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STORY of PHILADELPHIA 



Edited By 

J. St. George Joyce 




"It IS the voice of ages that are gone. 
They pass before me with all their deeds 

Ossian 



Copyright 

HARRY B. JOSEPH 

1919 



NOV -6 1919 



©ci,Ar).'HJ48a 



EDITOR'S PREFACE 



Tlie history of riiiladelpliia is. in a large measure, the history of the United States. Founded 
ly I'enn on the hroad and hlicral I)asis of the Fatherliood of Clod and the universal Brotherhood 
of Man, the little cluster of rudely huilt huts that marked the birth (jf town :uid port, and the 
\cry infancy of colonial progress and ex])ansion. has evolved into the magnificent proportions of 
a mighty city, rich in everything that makes a comnumity great — rich in the immense possibilities 
of a still greater future, and with aspirations that fix no boundaries to her growth, no line of 
demarcation to the wealth or extent of her resources, no liniil to lier population, or no restric- 
tion of her material prosperity or civic achievement. 

Philadelphia has been a prominent and potential tigure and factor in all the great nati(jnal 
epochs and events that dot the perspective of the past from the War of the Revolution to the 
present. Within her walls the first Continental Congress met and the immortal Declaration of 
Independence was signed. Here the Constitution of the infant republic was outlined and adoi)ted ; 
here the Bill of Rights was passed, and here — the first capital of the United States — was shaped 
and flung to the breeze that star-spangled banner which is the sacred and cherished emblem of a 
God-given freedom, which waves triumphant in the citadel of Liberty and which has never yet 
known humiliation or defeat. 

1 he days and the deeds of the heroic men who laid the foundation-stone upon which has 
been erected the structure of the mightiest nation that history has ever known are l)ut a glorious 
memory and a splendid aspiration; but Philadelphia remains — a concrete link with the past; a 
monument of its imperishajjle glories. Today, as in the fateful days of A^alley Forge, her patriot- 
ism is undoubted, her love of liberty alert and acute. Idie year 1812 saw her in the forefront of 
the fight for freedom, and the war with Mexico ])roved that, to her, the legacy of patriotism be- 
queathed by the fathers was of priceless worth. When the gun aimed at Fort Sumter Sjx^d its 
messenger of discord and of war, Philadelphia sprang to the conflict [)rom])tly and with a will. 
and within those years of internecine strife did i)robably more than any other city in the confed- 
eration of States to sustain the Union and declare that ''a government of the people, by the 
people, for the people should not i^erish from the earth."' Thus was it also in the Spanish-Amer- 
ican war, and thus, to the limit of endeavor, Avas it wdien the United States proclaimed war upon 
Germany. Within the pages of this history is recorded what this good old city did to "make the 
world safe for democracy" then, but it would take many volumes to detail the devotion of her 
sons; their zeal; their patriotism; their self-sacrifice or their deeds in the great conflict that had 



deluged Europe in blood and ihrealcncd the lihcrly of the world. In that conflict IMiiladelphia 
did much more than her equitable share and vastly more than the records of the period can ever 
tell. 

In this "Story of riiiladelphia" the red-letter events that stand out as Ijeacon lights in the 
vista of her i)ast are faithfully and accurately outlined. But what of her present, and what of the 
portents of her future? Facts and figures that never lie answer the first question and indirectly 
indicate the answer to the second. l'hiladel])hia today has an area of over 129 square miles and 
a population estimated at 1.850,000. She has over 346,000 separate homes, a large percentage of 
which is owned by their occupants; has 1718 miles of j^aved and graded streets and over thirty 
miles of available river front. She stands foremost amongst the industrial centers of the world, 
and her army of over 300,000 skilled laborers su])plies one-twentieth of the entire manufactures 
of the I'nited States. Iler banks and other financial institutions are among the wealthiest in the 
country, and her vast and increasing commerce extends to every quarter of the globe. Philadel- 
phia has two great uni\ersities, with a student enrollment of over 8000, while her hundreds of 
public and parochial schools provide a su])erior education to more than 250,000 children. 

Today Philadelphia is great in every sense and acceptation of the word. But great as she is, 
her manifest destiny will be unfulfilled until she stands in her old-time and proper place — the 
foremost city in the United States. Such wall inevitably be the climax of her evolution along the 
lines of material expansion, ardent and earnest patriotism. laudal)le civic pride and a public senti- 
ment based upon the beautiful ideals upon which her foundation w^as built and which, resolved 
i .to practice, earned for her thj proud name of "The Citv of Brotherly Love." 

J. St. (lEORGE JOYCE. 

Philadelphia, July, 1919. 



NEW CITY CHARTEK 



A new charter for the municipal government of 
Philadelphia was passed by the state legislature in June, 
1919, and was signed by Governor Sproul. Under its 
provisions members of city councils will be chosen by 
state senatorial districts instead of by wards, as in the past. 
Each district will be entitled to one councilman for tvery 
20,000 assessed voters, or major portion thereof. On 
basis of 1918 figures this will make the councilmanic body 
twenty-one members, instead of 145 under the previous 
system, and there will be only one chamber, instead of 
the two that heretofore existed. 



CONTENTS 



Discoverv :ind Settlement of Delaware River ReiJ;ion ... 9 

New Sweden and what came of it 20 

Dutch Control of Delaware River 42 

Under British Rule 58 

Penn's First Visit— Infancy of Philadelphia 71 

Doings in Philadelphia while Penn was away 83 

Penn's Second Visit and Later Government 92 

Philadelphia Under Hannah Penn and Her Children ... 104 

Warnint,^ of Quakers Ascendency in Assembly — City Prepares for War 114 

Benjamin Franklin and the Proprietary Movement .... 126 

From Tea Trouble to Declaration of Independence . . . 138 

Philadelphia During the Revolutionary War 153 

From British Evacuation of City to Peace ..... 169 

From 1784 to 1794 — Decade of Constructive Work .... 180 

Political Turmoil — From Jay Treaty to Second War with England 191 

Philadelphia from 1812 to 1840 204 

From 1840 to Consolidation Period — Racial and Political Troubles . 225 

In the Shadow of Approaching War . . . . . . 247 

Philadelphia During the Civil War ....... 256 

Politics and Progress — The Centennial Exhibition . . . . 272 

From 1890 to 1918— Philadelphia in World War .... 287 

Philadelphia During the War ........ 302 

Philadelphia's Industrial Development During Conflict . . . 319 

Making the World Safe for Democracy ...... 336 

Red Letter Events in World War — Chronologv .... 342 



CHAPTER ONE 

DISCOVERY AND DUTCH SETTLEMENT OF THE 
DELAWARE RIVER REGION 

Without turning aside to give consideration to the more or less legendary stories of pre- 
Columbian discoveries of America- it seems practically certain that the first Europeans to see that 
part of the Atlantic coast near the mouth of the Delaware River were the members either of the 
expedition of the Cabots (John and Sebastian) or Amerigo Vespucci, both of whom skirted along 
that coast in 1498. Giovanni W'rrazano, a Florentine navigator in the service of Francis I of 
France, peered into Delaware Bay in 1524. A map, drawn from Verrazano's notes in 1329 by his 
brother, Hieronimo de Verrazano, indicates the entrance to the Delaware under the name of 
"Polamsina." But no European seems to have thought it worth while to explore the river until 
Henry Hudson came and discovered it, August 28, 1609 (new style). He, like the others, was 
seeking an outlet to the Indies, and did not get far up the Delaware before he was satisfied that it 
was not what he sought. Then he turned the prow of his ship, the Half Moon, northward 
until he discovered the Lower and Upper bays of New York Harbor, and proceeded up the river 
that now bears his name. In the report of his voyages Hudson and his mate, Robert Juet (or 
Tewett), gave the Delaware the name of "South River," and called the Hudson the "North 
River," a name which is still in vogue locally to describe that part of the Hudson which flows in 
front of Manhattan Island. 

The conflicting claims of the Dutch and English to the sovereignty of the region between 
New England and Virginia, which followed the attempts of the Netherlanders to colonize it, 
related chiefly to the voyages of the Cabots and Henry Hudson. The Cabots sailed under the Eng- 
lish flag, though John Cabot was a \^enetian resident in Bristol, England, in which town his son. 
Sebastian, was born. They were skillful and intrepid navigators, and were the first to discover 
the actual coast line from Newfoundland to Cape Hatteras. Important as their discoveries 
undoubtedly were, they were purely coastal and preliminary, and although made in 1498 under 
commission from Henry VII of England, resulted in no English attempt to reduce the Cabot dis- 
coveries to possession until the expedition of Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlow, sent by Sir Walter 
Raleigh under a charter granted by Queen Elizabeth, which dropped anchor oflf the present 
coast of North Carolina July 4, 1.384. This was the precursor of the settlement of Virginia in 
1607, two years before the voyage of Henry Hudson resulted in the discovery of the Hudson and 
Delaware Rivers. 

Hudson was an Englishman. l)ut his Hche-Maen (Half-Moon) was a Dutch vessel, owned 
by the Dutch East India Company, and had been sent out to discover a Northeast Passage to India 
(this being Hudson's third voyage with that object), sailing from Amsterdam, April 4, 1609. 
Two days later the vessel passed out from the Zuyder Zee, through the channel between Texel and 
North Holland, into the North Sea. After about a month of sailing it was found impracticable 
to reach Nova Zembla because of the ice, and Hudson called his crew of twenty men together. 
The Northeast Passage not being practicable at that time, Hudson was disposed to try a western 
route. The idea of a Northwest Passage, whicli the navigators of that day thought could be 
found through the Arctic Seas, via Dover Strait, was favored by the crew. But Hudson had a 
map furnished him by his friend, Captain John Smith, of Virginia, which indicated an inlet 
from the coast in about the Fortieth degree of North latitude, which, if found to exist, would be 
of incalculable benefit to commerce. Either because of this, or because of tempestuous weather 
in the North. Hudson took a southerly route. He landed on the coast of New France (now 



THJl STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Maine), near llie mouth of Penobscot Bay, cutting a new mast from the virgin forest to replace 
his foremast. Then he steered south to Cape Cod. and from there southwest. He found himself 
at Chesapeake Bay, which was quite well known. From there he turned northeast again, seeking 
his passage to Cathay. 

The first large opening in the coastal line to be explored was Delaware Bay. He noticed 
"the white sandy shore" of its capes, and records that, becoming fearful of the shoals that crowded 
the mouth of the bay. he conceived it to be necessary to use "a small pinnaisse" to explore them. 
Actually striking ground once, he became satisfied that this was not the passage to Cathay for 
which he was seeking. He next tried, with much higher hopes, the entrance to New York Har- 
bor, and sailed many miles up the Hudson before he became thoroughly convinced that he had noc 
found the much-sought Northwest Passage. His personal journal, and the log-book kept by his 
English mate, Robert Juet (the other mate being a Dutchman), formed the basis of the infor- 
mation which led, a few years later, to the settlement of Manhattan Island, which afterwards 
became New Amsterdam, and the eventual creation of the Dutch province of New Netherlands. 

Henry Hudson himself, homeward bound for Amsterdam in his Half-Moon, with a cargo of 
furs for which he had traded with the Indians along the Hudson River, was detained by the 
British at Dartmouth, where the ship arrived on November 7, 1609 (O. S.). A charge of illegal 
trading in English realms was made against tha ship, but early in the Spring of 1610 Henry 
Hudson was permitted to send a report to his Dutch employers, and in July the ship and its cargo 
were released and went to Amsterdam, arriving in July. Hudson himself was not permitted to 
return to the Dutch, and in 1611 started on his fourth and fatal voyage for the discovery of a 
Northwest Passage to India, this time under English auspices. On that voyage he took his son 
with him, and, discovering the strait and bay now known by his name, he was so sure that he 
had found the much-sought passage that he insisted on keeping a westward course. His crew, 
determined to go no further in that direction, mutinied and set Hudson and his son adrift in a 
small boat on the waters of Hudson Bay. As nothing was heard from them, they doubtless soon 
perished. 

Meanwhile, in Holland, the report of Hudson's voyage had roused much interest among 
the mercantile community, the cargo of furs revealing the fact that, while Hudson had failed on 
the main object of his voyage, he had opened up great opportunities for Dutch commerce. So 
the Half-Moon was sent back in 1610, this time in command of Hudson's Dutch mate ( whose 
deserving name seems not to have been j^reserved), and soon returned with another rich cargo of 
beaver and other furs, for which the out-cargo of cheap and inexpensive articles had been 
exchanged. 

This second voyage of the I lalf-Moon had n ;t been originated by the Dutch East Indian Com- 
pany, whose charter forl)ade it from trade with the coasts and countries bordering on the Atlantic. 
The trade was undertaken by a specially organized association of merchants. The success of the 
Half-Moon led to other adventures to the Mauritius River, as the Hudson had come to be called, 
so named, doubtless, in honor of Count Maurice of Nassau, then Stadtholder of the Republic of 
the United Netherlands. 

Interest had been centered on the North River almost exclusively, because the emphasis had 
been placed there by Hudson's report. The South (Zuydt) or Delaware River had only been 
casually mentioned in his report, in wliich he said that he found the land there to "trend away 
towards the northwest, with a great bay and rivers, but the bay was shoal and dangerous because 
of sandbars." This description did not commend the South River to the seagoing world. 

After the return of the Half-Moon several skippers desired to engage in the trade it had inau- 
gurated. One of these was llendrick Christiaensen, who had been engaged in trade between 
Holland and the West Indies. Returning with a heavily laden ship, he had approached Sandy 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA \\ 



Hook with the half-formed purpose of entering tlie Lower Bay, but he had heard that the entrance 
was dangerous because of shoals, and decided to take his cargo home. He had, however, been 
so favorably impressed with the appearance of the country that, talking to another experienced 
sea-captain named Adriaen Block, in whom he aroused interest, they determined to charter a ves- 
sel and go as traders to the new country, placing a Captain Ryser in command of the vessel. The 
trip was successful, and the adventurers brought back with them a valuable cargo of peltries. 
They also brought with them two Indian youths, sons of chiefs, whom they had named (after 
the forest-born heroes of then popular romance) Valentine and Orson. The exhibition of these 
romanticaHy named American aborigines (the first native New Yorkers to make the European 
tour) aroused much interest in the Netherlands. In 1612 Christiaensen and Block, backed by 
leading merchants, equipped two vessels, which engaged in the trade. Christiaensen sailed as com- 
. mander of the Fortune, and Block of the Tiger, which left Amsterdam early in 1613, each laden 
with goods likely to attract Indian trade. 

Christiaensen, desiring to give stability and permanence to the fur trade, saw that this could 
only be done by establishing central points for the trade, one convenient to the Indians as a per- 
manent trading post, and another for storage of the skins, as collected, at a convenient point for 
loading into vessels as they came for cargoes. 

In furtherance of this idea, Christiaensen set to work on the building of rude houses of rough 
boards, roofed with bark stripped from the trees. Having comj)leted his ararngements for estab- 
lishing a trading-camp, he went up the river with his ship Fortune to the head of navigation, 
where the waters of the Mohawk mingle with those of the Hudson. There the routes of Indian 
trade came together, and Indians from all directions and from points as distant as Quebec came 
to trade. At that point Christiaensen selected an island (now^ Castle Island) in the middle of the 
river, on which he built a stockade and warehouse, with a moat eighteen feet wide. He called 
this combination of warehouse and defensive work Fort Nassau, after the Stadtholder Count 
Maurice of Nassau, who had already been hon ired in the name Mauritius, which had been 
bestowed on the North River, but was only retained for a few years. Christiaensen mounted two 
cannon and eleven swivel-guns, taken from the Fortune, upon the walls of this fort, and detailed 
twelve men to garrison it, under command of Jacob Eelkens. Christiaensen returned to Man- 
hattan, but soon after, it is said, was killed by Orson, one of the Indians whom he had taken to 
Holland, and who was at once killed by one of Christiaensen's men. 

While Christiaensen was building Fort Nassau up the river Adriaen Block's ship, the Tiger, 
lying at anchor in New York Bay, accidentally caught fire and was totally destroyed. Block and his 
men engaged immediately in the building of another vessel, which he called the Onrust (Restless). 

With this vessel Block set out on a voyage of investigation of adjacent waters. Starting 
up East River and successfully stemming the current of Hell Gate, he passed into Long Island 
Sound, the first European to see that body of water. He entered into New Haven Inlet, sailed 
into the Connecticut River, which he named Fresh Water River, and named, for himself, the 
three-cornered Block Island, the name it still bears. He was not discoverer of that island, 
however, for Giovanni Verrazano, who had seen the island from the seaward side in 1524, had 
named it Luisa Island, in honor of the mother of Francis I of France, in whose service he was. 

From that island Adriaen Block sailed eastward into Narragansett Bay, which he named 
Nassau Bay, doubled Cape Cod, and then went as far as Salem Harbor before turning back on 
the way to Manhattan. Near Cape Cod he encountered the Fortune (Christiaensen's ship), 
now commanded by Cornells Hendricksen, bound for Amsterdam with a full cargo, and learned 
the fate of his partner. Block transferred Hendricksen to command of the Onrust. and himself 
took charge of the Fortune, with which he went direct to Holland. He made no further voyages 
to New Netherland. 



12 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

While Christiaensen and Block are entitled to the highest credit for initiative work in 
organizing Dutch commerce with America, there were others who followed up their developments 
and kept trade actively moving; and in 1613 there were three other ships from Holland which 
made their way to Manhattan: the Little Fox, under command of John DeWitt, and the Night- 
ingale, under command of Thys Volkertsen, both from Amsterdam, while the Fortune, of Hooen, 
was commanded by Cornelis Jacobsen May (sometimes spelled Mey). After his arrival in Man- 
hattan May took a short voyage of investigation of the nearby coast, charting the coast-line 
from Sandy Hook to the Delaware, giving his name to Cape May and naming the southern cape 
facing the ocean Henlopen after a town in Friesland. He also explored the south coast of Long 
Island, and the Atlantic coast eastward and northward to Martha's Vineland. 

The States General of the United Netherlands published a decree in March, 1614, in the form 
of a General Charter, giving discoverers of new passages, havens, countries or places a tempo- 
rary monopoly of trade, provided that within fourteen days from the discoverer's return from 
his exploring voyage he should make a detailed report of his discovery. 

A few days after his arrival in Amsterdam Adriaen Block, in October, 1614, appeared before 
the Assembly of the States General, and recounted the voyage of the Onrust through Hell Gate 
and Long Island Sound, demonstrating the insularity of Long Island, and thus establishing his 
claim as discoverer of a "new passage," in addition to the discovery of New Haven Inlet and the 
I'Vcsh Water (Connecticut) River. He also presented, on behalf of the association of merchants 
with which he was connected, the explorations of Captain Cornelis Jacobsen May for explorations 
of the entire Atlantic coast, from Martha's Vineyard to Delaware Bay. Other skippers made 
statements of voyages and explorations, with the result that the Assembly of the States General 
gave to the merchants associated with these navigators a charter under the corporate name of 
The United New Netherland Company, signed and sealed on October U, 1614. 

The charter of this company runs in favor of "Gerrit Jacobz Witssen (ex-burgomaster of 
the city of Amsterdam), Jonas Witssen, and Simon Morrisen, owners of the ship Little Fox, of 
which Jan DeWitt was skipper ; Hans Hongers, Paulus Pelgrom, and Lambrecht van Tweenhuysen, 
owners of two shii)s called the Tiger and the Fortune, of which Adriaen Block and Hendrick 
Christiaensen were skippers ; Arnolt van Lybergen, Wessel Schenck, Hans Claessen, and Barent 
Sweertsen, owners of the ship called the Nightingale, whereof Thys Volckertsen was skipper, mer- 
chants of the city of Amsterdam ; and Pieter Clcmentsen Brouwer, John Clementsen Kies, and Cor- 
nelis Volckertsen, merchants of the city of Hoorn, owners of the ship called the Fortune, whereof 
Cornelis Jacobsen May was ski})per, all united now into one company," and reciting the publica- 
tion of their General Charter of the preceding March, conferred upon the company the privilege of 
exclusive trade for four voyages within the term of three years with "the new lands between New 
France and Virginia, the sea-coasts of which lie between the Fortieth and Forty-fifth degrees, 
North latitude, now named New Netherland." This is the first official designation of the country 
by the name under which it was, for many years, to be the representative of Dutch sovereignty 
on the American continent. 

To take back our narrative to the little ship Onrust, on which, as we have recounted, 
Adriaen Block had made his discovery of Long Island Sound and other important points on 
the New England coast, Cornelis Hendricksen, whom Block had placed in charge of it, took up 
the task of discovery of the topography of the coast and the possibilities of trade and colonization 
in New Netherland. In the eastern and northern direction Ardiaen Block had maae a good 
beginning, and 1 lendricksen decided to turn his attention to the country to the south. 

Of this Cornelis Hendricksen, Gen. James Grant Wilson suggests that as the name Hend- 
ricksen means "the son of Hendrick," it is "not unlikely that he was the son of Hendrick 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Christiaensen, if we arc to judge from the prevai.ing custom of family names among the burglicr 
class of Holland at that date." Such relationship would explain why, after Christiaensen was 
killed by the Indian Orson, his ship, the Fortun?. should have been loaded for Amsterdam and 
taken out by Cornelis Hendricksen and turned o\cr to Block, Christiaensen's partner. 

Cornelis Hendricksen, returning to Manhattan in the Onrust, soon after started on explora- 
tions of the surrounding coast. Early in 1615 he sailed southward along the coast of New Jersey, 
noting its contour on a roughly outlined map. He doubled Cape May, which he does not appear 
to have known to have been previously so named, as it is marked "Cape Henlopen" on his map. 
The opposite cape he named, with a self-assertion common to explorers, "Cape Cornelis," after 
himself. 

The small size of the Unrust made it an ideal vessel for coast survey in those days. Hend- 
ricksen made an exhaustive investigation of Delaware Bay and River, landing at many points, 
made charts and soundings and entered the creeks, bays and rivers that opened on either side. 
The course of the Delaware, called South River, he followed as far as the Schuylkill, and made 
a landing at what afterward became known as Christiana Creek, where he encountered a band of 
Minqua Indians, wnth whom, to his astonishment, he found three Netherlanders whom the Indians 
claimed as their captives, but readily released for a ransom of a few trinkets. The men IkkI 
been members of the garrison which Hendrick Christiaensen had left at Fort Nassau on tlu- 
Hudson (then Mauritius) River. They had wandered into the forests Vvhich formed the hunting 
grounds of the Mohawks and Lenni Lenape, had been captured by Mohawks and been compelled 
to act as their servants. Escaping from their captors they had been sheltered by Ogehages, a 
tribe hostile to the Mohawks, and aided by them until they reached the banks of the Delaware. 
They followed the course of that river until they came to the country of the Minquas, who 
claimed them as captives but treated them not unkindly. Captain Hendricksen related this inci- 
dent in his later report, and noted it on his map, which also shows that the wanderers had given 
him valuable information in regard to the relative locations of the Indian tribes of the Mohawk 
and Delaware Valleys, and the dividing ridge between them. 

Captain Hendricksen returned to Holland in 1616. and on August 19 of that year made a 
report, accompanied by map of his discoveries, to their "High Mightinesses," the States-General. 
His first report was verbal, but he was instructed to reduce it to writing. In the report he claims 
on behalf of his masters and directors a grant of exclusive trading privileges under the General 
Charter of March, 1614, setting forth that "he hath discovered for his aforesaid masters and 
directors certain lands, a bay and three rivers, situate between the thirty-eighth and fortieth 
degrees of North latitude, and did there trade with the inhabitants, said trade consisting of sables, 
furs and other skins. He hath found said country full of trees, to wit: oak, hickory and pines, 
which trees were in some places covered with vines. He hath seen in said country bucks and 
does, turkeys and partridges. He hath found the climate of said country very temperate, judg- 
ing it to be as temperate as this country ( Holland)." 

Although Hendricksen's claims to discovery were clearly and convincingly stated, the regions 
he described were so closely contiguous to that for which a grant had been made to the UnUed 
Netherland Company (if, indeed, it did not overlap it) that the States-General declined to grant 
another patent of monopoly to a rival association. Captain Hendricksen, however, was the first 
of the navigators to see the site of Philadelphia, though not the first European, that distinction 
being due to the three captives whom he ransomed from the Minquas. 

At the time of the report of Cornelis Hendricksen, the monopoly of the United New Nether- 
land Company had half expired, and at the close of its three years the question as to the continuance 
of the trade with New Netherland and who should control it became of interest not only to the 
company itself, but also to the numerous rivals who would like to have succeeded to its privileges. 



14 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



The company made strenuous efforts to secure renewal of its monopoly grant. The individual 
merchants who had formed the company continued to control most of the trade to Manhattan, 
which consisted principally of the shi])ping of furs to Dutch ports. The furs were procured for 
the most part by Dutch traders who worked from the trading-post up North River known as 
Fort Nassau, of which lacob Eelkins was in charge. Though the merchants named in the old 
charter did most of the trade, other merchants and associations took some unobstructed part in 
it and the various i)arties contended for a monoply of this trade, which assumed constantly 
enlarging proportions. F.ach of these contestants looked forward to the creation of a West India 
Company which should e.xcrcise a monopoly o< trade with the Dutch possessions in America 
similar to that luld in the Far East by the East India Company. 

In 1618. Ford De Fa Warr. on his voyage from \'irginia to England, died opposite the 
mouth of the river which it was afterward asserted was then named for him. So far as printed 
records go that name was not commonly applied to the river for a long time after that date, but 
the tradition that the name was thus early given to the bay and river served as a factor in the 
I'jiglish claim to sovereignty in that region. 

Following the expiration of the charter of the United New Netherland Company, it was neces- 
sary to secure for each \-ovager from Holland the s]:)ecial permission of the authorities. One of 
the permits was obtained by Henry Eelkins (relative of Jacob Eelkins, who had been com- 
mandant of b'ort Nassau, on North Fiver) and associates, for a voyage of the ship Schilt 
( Shield ) from .Amsterdam to the North River. Another went to Cornelius Jackson May (whose 
former voyage to the Delaware Bay has been mentioned), who went to the James River in 
\irginia. in the Shi]) (Jlad Tidings, in 1620. As the basis of a claim for a charter, his 
principals presented a report of this voyage in which May seemed to have mixed uj) the incidents 
and discoveries of his former voyage. As the Cieneral Charter of March, 1614. required that 
such a disco\ery should lie rejiorted within fourteen days from the discoverer's return to Hol- 
land, the May claim was vigorously contested, e-^pecially by Henry Eelkins. and the monopoly 
charter refused. The upshot of this and other contests was a movement for a national asso- 
ciation, and this was successful in securing. June 3, 1621, a charter from the States-General 
to the "West India Company." The organization of this company meant not only trade, but 
colonization, which the United New Netherland Company had already seen to be a vital neces- 
sity if Dutch trade and sovereignty should prosper in America. The idea of permanent removal 
from the Netherlands was one which did not carry any very convincing appeal, in that age, to 
the people of Holland. The Dutch were the greatest traders of that age. pushing their com- 
merce in ever}- sea. At home ihey enjoyed civil and religious liberty, and prosperity was more 
generally diffused among the people than under anv other contemporaneous government. The 
country was an asylum for the politicallv and religiously exiled and oppressed. English Non- 
conformists and Protestant Walloons from the Southern province of Belgium found refuge 
from i)roscri]nion and jiersecution within the h )S])itable borders of the United Netherlands. 

The English Nonconformists, with John Robinson at their head, were settled in Feyden and 
the four hundred families enjoyed ])erfect liberty for their rehgious views. But they wanted 
not only liberty, but a .separation from antagonistic ecclesiastical ideas. Their belief in Congre- 
gational independency found the Fresbyterianism of the Dutch Reformed Church no more har- 
monious with their own ideas of church ])olity than the Episcopalianism of the Church of Eng- 
land. They had left England to escajie from the intolerant demands of enforced conformity to 
the State Church. The Reformed Dutch Church made no such demands, but their thoughts 
turned to America as the land of jxjwer as well as freedom, where they might bring up their 
children apart from the suggestive influences of unsympathetic religious and ecclesiastical sys- 
tems. While in Holland they had endeavored to arrange with the Fondon Company and the 



THE STORY Of I'l 1 1 1 .ADIiLPI II A 



I'lyniouth Company fur permission and ai(.l to colonize in America, but received no inducement. 
Negotiations with the United New Netherland Compan\' were more favoral)le. That Com- 
])any promised them free passage to New Netherland. and to furnish e\er\' family with a 
sufficient number of cattle for its needs. ])ro\ide(l (hat the consent of the States-deneral should 
be obtained for this arrangement. 

When the matter came to the States-( General it met serious ol)stacles. King James I had, 
through his ambassador at The Hague, strongly ])rotested against the Dutch ])olicy of giving 
syhnr to these religious refugees. But a still stronger obstacle was the political one, which 
had, through Sir Dudley Carleton, Ambassador of James 1 at the Hague, become intensely 
vocal. He had presented very strongly the claim of soxcreignty over the country called Mew 
Netherland, insisting that the discovery by the Cabots and the English nationality of Henry 
Hudson gave a title to James I which was "notorious to every one." He demanded that the 
States-General should forbid any further jiroseculion of its I'olonial enter])rise. 

In view of these considerations, the States-Cieneral decided that it would not be wise to 
colonize the Nonconformists, who were English subjects and English in their habits and social 
ideas, in New Netherland. It was felt that to colonize them there would add strength to the 
British claim of sovereignty, and therefore the project was disapi)rove(l by the States-Cieneral. 
It was only a short time afterward that about half of the Pilgrims at Eeyden sailed on the 
Speedwell from Dolf shaven and the same year I)egan, at riymouth Rock, the colonization of 
New England. 

It was a few months after this decision by the States-( General that a comnuuiity of 
Protestant Walloons, located in Amsterdam, asked iiermission of the States of Holland to 
emigrate to New Netherland. While they, like the English IMlgrims, had come to the Nether- 
lands as religious refugees, they had adopted PloUand as their home, were accejjted and desir- 
able citizens of Amsterdam and members of th:> Dutch Church. Nothing stood in the way of 
their emigration to New Netherland. There was no tie of birth to hold them, and the Dutch 
(Government complied with their request with ready acquiescence. In March. 1<'23, after eleven 
months of preparation and negofiation about fifty families left .\msterdam on the ship New 
Netherland, of two hundred and sixty tons burden. The ex])edition was under command of 
Cornelis Jacobson May, appointed by the Amsterdam Chamber of the Dutch West India Com- 
])anv to be director of New Netherland. 

In Mav the vessel arrived off Manhattan Island, and then proceeded uj) the ri\er to the 
mouth of the Tawasthena River, where the smdl lM)rt Nassau was located, but they tound U 
practically dismantled and much dilapidated. lAen if it had been restored it was too small for 
their purpose. Therefore a site four miles further up the river was chosen, where Fort Orange 
w^as built at what is now the principal business section of .\lbauy. Eighteen families were settled 
there. Captain May went down in the New Netherland a little later, leaving Adriaen Joris in 
charge at Fort Orange, left a few families on Manhattan Island, then went down the coast into 
Delaware Bay and up South (Delaware) River to about four miles ])el()w the site in i'hiladel- 
phia on the New Jersey side, and on Timmer's Kill, near the site of the present town of 
Gloucester, N. J., he built a fort and named it In)rt Nassau. In June. 1623. three more ships, 
the Orange Tree, the Eagle and the Love, sailed under the ausi^ices of the Dutch West India 
Company, all bringing over more Walloon families, some for the settlements on North River, 
and others for Fort Nassau, on South River. In 1623 New Netherland received recognition as 
a province by the grant to it by the States-General of a seal, with the device of a shield, bear- 
ing a beaver! proper, surmounted by a count's cornet and surrounded by the words "Sigllluiii 
A^o7'i Belgii." 



16 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Director Cornclis Jacobsen May's term as director of New Netherland expired in 1624, 
and he was succeeded in the directorship by William V'erhulst, appointed for one year. Ver- 
hulst made his headquarters at the settlement on South River and there is no record of his 
having visited Manhattan, or of anything that he did. His year was the prelude to a change 
of administration which would vest authority in a Director General and his Council of six mem- 
bers, all appointed by and subject to the paramount authority of the Dutch West India Com- 
pany. The first Director General was Peter Minuit and his Council was composed of Peter 
Bylvet, Jacob Elbertsen Wissinck. John Jansen Brouwer, Simon Dircksen Pos and Reymert 
Harmensen. Isaac de Rasieres, Secretary of New Netherland, was another official of the 
Company, and these eight, embarking from Amsterdam on the ship Sea Mew, arrived on Man- 
hattan Island. May 4, 1626. The other official, J^n Lampe, schout-fiscal, arrived from Amsterdam 
in July, 1626. The duties of the office included the present functions of a sheriff, combined 
with the duties of counsel, both for the prosecution and defense in criminal cases. 

The first official act of the new government was to buy Manhattan Island. It appears that 
the land bought comprised eleven thousand morgens (or 23,100) acres) and was bought for 
sixty guilden ($24), not in money, but in bead?, baubles and ornaments of various kinds. It 
was cheap enough, and it gave an argument to the Dutch authorities in subsequent contentions 
with the English that they had bought the land from the natives who originally owned it. 
Troubles of the outlying settlements with the Indian tribes who were fighting among them- 
selves caused the recall to Manhattan of the settlers at Fort Orange (Albany) and those at 
Fort Nassau on the Deltware. The larger part of the population of New Netherland was 
thus concentrated on Manhattan Island, yet that settlement only numbered two hundred and 
seventy souls. The company's colonizing scheme, was, up to this point, a failure. Those that 
were in the colony were, for the most part, traders. Farmers there were, but no farm hands, 
and there were practically no industries because there were no mechanics or laborers. 

To remedy these conditions the Dutch West India Company planned a feudal system pat- 
terned to a considerable extent after that adopted by the Portuguese in the colonization of 
Madeira, the Azores and Brazil, or the colony grants which were used by Spain as a means of 
settling the more remote regions of Mexico. Under the Spanish and Portuguese system the 
beneficiaries were grandees or courtiers who were given large areas of land in the Americas as 
a courtly favor by the monarch. But the plan adopted by the Dutch West India Company was 
commercial rather than feudal, and contemplated the building up of population and trade. 

1 he patroonships, as these grants were called, were planned upon a large scale. The bene- 
ficiaries were required to be "members of the Company." The size of the tracts to be developed 
was based upon the river frontage of the grant, which was restricted to sixteen miles along one 
side or eight miles on both sides of any river in New England. There was no restriction in 
respect to the distance back from the rivers these grants should extend. But there were condi- 
tions attached to tiie grant that proved to be difficult. It was provided, in the first place, that the 
grantee should, within four years, plant in New Netherland a colony of fifty souls over fifteen 
years old, failing which the grant became automatically inefifective. Other requirements were 
that the land should be purchased from the Indians, and should be occupied by the Indians at 
the expense of the patroon. Manhattan Island was excluded from the territory which might 
be located by a patroon. Having fulfilled the conditions, the patroon became absolute owner 
of the land ; could cultivate the soil to any extent he desired ; owned all its timber and mineral 
resources, and had a monopoly of hunting and fishing privileges. Yet there were various restric- 
tions. All products must be sent to the Fatherland after being first taken to Manhattan. 
The fur trade was prohibited to the patroons or their colonists, all beaver, otter, mink and 
other peltries being reserved to the company. In other things the patroons were permitted to 



THE STORY OF PJ lILADJtLPIIIA 



trade anywhere from NewfouncUaiul lo I'lorida, Imt all goods received in trade were to be taken 
to Manhattan to be disposed of. They were, however prohibited from manufactures. The 
patroons and their settlers were to be for ten years exempt from customs, dues, taxes, excise anxl 
imposts of all kinds, and were entitled to the protection by the troops and navies of the West 
India Company from inland and foreign wars and aggression. 

It is a notable fact that the first patroonships were located, not along the North (or Hud- 
son) River, but on the Delaware. The patroons were Samuel Blommaerl and Samuel (iodyn, 
merchants of Amsterdam and directors of the Dutch West India Company. The patroonship 
idea seems to have been a shrewd land-grabbin'4" scheme concocted by a few of the .'\msterdani 
directors of the company, and was largely promoted l)y Isaac de Rasieres, secretary of the New 
Netherland, who had been sent by the Director (ieneral, Peter Minuit, to Amsterdam, to con- 
sult with the W'est India Company. His representation of the conditions, telling how, because of 
sparse settlement and Indian troubles, outside settlers had been called in and concentrated at 
Manhattan^ forms a valuable contribution to the annals of New Netherland. 

De Rasieres was an accompli^'.hed diplomat, closely allied with Godyn. Blommaert and Van 
Rensselaer, and he had fully informed them in regard to choice locations on the Nortli and 
South Rivers. Blommaert and Godyn sent two persons in 1629 to the South River to examine 
and buy land from the Indians, and they thus secured a tract thirty-two miles long on the south 
side of Delaware (then called Godyn) Bay, from Cape Henloi)en to the mouth of a river, and 
two miles deep. The patent for this tract was registered and confirmed on June 1, 1630, by 
Director-General Peter Minuit and his Council, at Fort Amsterdam (Manhattan). Soon after 
this grant was made, others were registered and approved. Sebastiaen Jansen Krol, who was 
agent for Kiliaen van Rensselaer, made the biggest haul, having located a tract with sixteen 
miles front on the west side of the Hudson River and extending back "two days' journey" into 
the wilderness. This tract with others purchased from the Indians a few days later made \'an 
Rensselaer the proprietor of nearly all the land now included in Albany and Rensselaer Coun- 
ties, New York. Michael Pauw, another director of the Company, planted his colony directly 
across the river from Manhattan Island, which he named for himself under the Latinized form 
of Pavonia, and later made two other colony locations, one of which included all of Staten Island, 
and another, which he named Ahasimus, covered the present site of Jersey City and Paulus Hook. 
The rapid and excessive grabbing of what then seemed the best locations led to quarrels among 
the patroons which spread to some others. Van Rensselaer concluded to divide his holdmgs 
into five shares, two of which he retained as his own patroonship. while Godyn and Blommaert 
each received one and John deLaet the remaining one. Godyn and Blommaert also took m 
DeLaet and \'an Rensselaer as partners in their South River venture. 

Godyn and Blommaert, in order to complete the title to their patroonship, were anxious 
to find a person able to get together the emigrants and supplies necessary for the purpose. For- 
tunately there came to Amsterdam, fresh from a three years' cruise in the East Indies, Captam 
David Pieterssen deVries, of Hoorn. He was a skillful seaman and navigator, a keen and 
rough, but kindly man, a shrewd observer of men and events, and with a reputation which 
recommended him to Godyp and Blommaert as the most efficient agent for their purpose. They. 
therefore, proposed to him that he should go to New Netherland for them as commander and 
under-patroon, but he declined to consider any connection with the enterprise except upon a 
basis of an equal interest with the others. This was agreed to. DeVries, who had heard that 
Godyn's (Delaware) Bay abounded in whales, expected much profit from the fishery. These 
expectations, and the prospect of securing additional lands from the Indians, led the patroons 
to enlarge their plans and to form a more extensive association for the ]nu-i)ose of colonizing the 
South River country. So new members were taken in and this association, organized October 



18 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



16, 1630, was composed of Blommaert, Godyn. \'an Rensselaer, DeLaet, DeVries, with the 
addition of four others, directors of the West India Company, named Van Ceulen, Hamel, Van 
Haringhoeck and \'an Sittorigh. 

DeX'ries went to work diligently, gathering colonists and supplies, cattle and whaling imple- 
ments, and equipped the ship Walrus (which carried eighteen guns), and a yacht. DeVries 
did not go out on that voyage, but placed the expedition in command of Pieter Heyes. Among 
those who accompanied the expedition was at least one who had been in New Netherland before 
— one GilHss Hossett. who had been one of Van Rensselaer's agents in the purchase of lands 
for the patroonship of Rensselaerswyck up the Hudson. The expedition sailed from the Texel 
on December 12, 1630. The smaller vessel was captured by Dunkirk privateers before it left 
Dutcli waters, but the Walrus made a safe voyage and reached South River in the spring of 1631, 
entering the Horekill (Lewes Creek) near the mouth of South River, where, near the present 
site of Lewes, Delaware, a palisaded brick fort was built, and a colony of more than thirty 
souls was established under the name of Swanendael, or the Valley of Swans. The edifice, sur- 
rounded by palisades, was named Fort Oplandt and was placed in command of Gilliss Hossett. 
Heyes, after he had settled his colonists at Swanendael, crossed the river to what afterward 
became New Jersey, and bought for his employing association, from the ten Indian chiefs there, 
a tract extending from Cape May twelve miles northward along the bay and twelve miles inland. 
This purchase was registered at Manhattan June 3, 1631. Having completed the purchase, Heyes 
left the colony in charge of Hossett and returned to Holland. DeVries was much incensed with 
Heyes, because he had not attempted to do anything with the whale fishery, and charged him 
with cowardice and inefficiency. DeVries then prepared to go south himself. 

Meanwhile the whole question of patroonships had been in a turmoil. The patroons found 
them unprofitable I)ecause the reluctance of farmers to leave Holland to engage in work under the 
patroons made the possibilities of agriculture very limited. The prohibition of fur trade by the 
patroons excluded them from the sole activity in the colony which was at all profitable. The 
complaints of the patroons caused tlie company to withdraw many of the most irksome 
conditions. 

Rut there were others, besides the patroons, who were dissatisfied with a situation which 
had concentrated into a close oranization of a few of the directors of the Dutch West India 
Company such kirge and potentially valuable land grants. The States General made an investi- 
gation and found the grants excessive and in other ways objectionable. The Director General, 
Peter Minuit. was recalled. As he had only carried out, in these matters, the duties which devolved 
upon him under the company's charter, his recall appears by no means just. So far as resources 
and conditions permitted, Minuit was a faithful and efficient executive who ruled both ably and 
conscientiously. On his return in 1632 on the ship Eendracht (LInion) for Holland, with several 
famihes of returning colonists and a cargo of five thousand beaver skins, the ship met contrary 
winds in the British Channel and was compelled to take refuge in Plymouth Harbor. There she 
was detained by the English authorities on the charge that the ship was engaged in an illegal traf- 
fic in British monopohes. In diplomatic correspondence which followed the respective claims of 
England and the Netherlands to the country between New England and Virginia were set forth 
at length, but finally, because internal troubles in England made the time inopportune for too 
strong insistence on its claims, the British Government, without withdrawing any of its claims, 
released the Eendracht, and the voyage was continued to Amsterdam. 

Just as DeVries was about to sail from th.- Texel, May 21, 1632, Governor Minuit arrived. 
He brought the news that its colony at Swanendael had been massacred by Indians. Though 
greatly shocked, DeVries set sail with a large vessel and a yacht. He reached the site of Swan- 
endael December 5, 1632, but found there onlv skulls and bones of the colonists and their 



THE STORY L)T rU I L.U 'IJ.I'1 1 1 ,1 H^ 

callle. DcX'ries sought the Indians and inxilcd thcni to a ])arley, at which he i^^ained their con- 
hdence ; and soon after, by Hheral presents and a freindly policy, succeeded in concluding a 
treaty of peace. Going up the river, he came to a place where a colony of English settlers from 
Virginia had been massacred by savages. He met the Indians there and had a peaceful talk with 
them. l)ut found nothing to encourage a new settlement at that time. Leaving a part of his 
men to try their hand at whaling, he determined to visit Virginia. Arriving there, he was heart- 
ily welcomed by Sir John Harvey, the Governor, who was much surprised to hear from him 
that the D.utch had a colony on the Delaware. When he went to Swanendael again he found 
that his party had only taken seven whales and very little oil. He concluded that there was very 
little profit in the enterprise and took his party with him. He was afterward prominent in 
Manhattan as a power for great good in New Netherland affairs, and especially as a mediator 
with the Indians in the troublous years, until his final return to Holland in 1644. But when 
he sailed from Swanendael in April, 1634. he left no Europeans in the \"allcy of the Delaware. 

Sel)astiaen Tansen Krol, who had been agent in charge for Kiliaen van Rensselaer in the 
location and purchase of the patroonship of Rensselaerswyck, and director of the military post 
at Eort Orange, was appointed by the directors of the Dutch West India Comi)any to be the 
Director-General of New Netherland at Fort Amsterdam in Manhattan, until such time as a suc- 
cessor should be sent from Holland ; and he served thirteen months from the time that Gov- 
ernor Minuit left the island until the arrival of (Governor Wouter (Weaker) van Twiller, who 
arrived at Fort Amsterdam (Manhattan) in April, 1633, on the ship Soutberg (Salt Mountain). 
This appointment shows the strong influence possessed by the patroon Kiliaen van Rensselaer 
in the directorate of the Dutch West India Company. He had not only secured the appoint- 
ment of his agent Krol as Governor ad interim, but also the selection of his nephew. Van 
Twiller, for the more permanent term. W^hatever efifort he put into securing this appointment 
was well invested. The recall and dismissal of Minuit had been chiefly because of the grants 
he had made to the patroons, although he does not seem to have exceeded his instructions in that 
matter. Wouter van Twiller bought back, for the Company, all the patroonships which had been 
granted by Minuit, except that owned by his uncle, Kiliaen van Rensselaer, who thus became 
the only ultimate beneficiary of the patroonship system. One of the patroonships extinguished 
l)y repurchase was that of Blommaert, Godyn and associates on South River. Outside of this 
transactions Van Twiller seems to have had nothing to do with the colonization of the South 
River region. 

Wilhelm Kieft, who succeeded Van Twiller as Director-General of New Netherland, reached 
New Amsterdam (Manhattan) in 1638. His was a turbulent administration, involved in con- 
stant turmoil with Indian tribes, whom he infuriated by his harshness. He also became deeply 
involved in international complications, because of the encroachments of the English from Con- 
necticut and the injection of a new nationality at the South River extremity of New Netherland. 



H 



p T E R TWO 



NEW SWEDEN AND WHAT CAME OF IT 

\fter the destruction of Swanendael by the Indians there was for a time httle attention 
paid'bv the Dutch to the question of colony-planting on the Delaware. Fort Nassau, near the site 
of Gloucester. N. {., still stood, and may have been visited by Dutch traders seeking to buy furs 
from the Indians, or by runners sent from Manhattan to see if any invaders or hostile parties 
had tried to establish a footing for themselves in that region. But in 1635 the fort was unoc- 
cupied. Governor Sir John Harvey, of Virginia, had heard from Captain de Vries of the Dutch 
claims and grants on the Delaware, which, from the English point of view, was British soil. In 
1633 the Governor sent a party of thirteen men, under command of George Holmes, to investigate 
the South River conditions, and, if possible, to seize and hold the country in the name of the King. 

When this party reached South River they found the region deserted by all the settlers, and. 
proceeding to Fort Nassau, took possession of it. But Hall, who was Captain George Holmes' 
servant, deserted and escaped to Manhattan, and told how there Fort Nassau had been taken by the 
British 'troops, who had occupied it. Governor van Twiller sent an armed force in a sloop to 
recapture the fort : and this being done, the intruders were captured and sent back to Virginia. 

From tlie first Dutch settlement on Manhattan there had been a continuous conflict between 
the claims of (Jreat Britain and the United Netherlands as to territorial and sovereignty rights in 
America. It had been a subject of many diplomatic representations between the two countries. 
The West India Company requested those whom they appointed as directors-general of New 
Netherlands to avoid armed conflict as nuich as possible. As far as encroachments from the 
East by the Puritan settlers of New England, there was much uneasiness, but beyond an occa- 
sional notification to the Colonial authorities thit the Dutch Government regarded itself as owner 
of all the region to the Fresh Water (Connecticut) River and considerably beyond it, including all 
of Connecticut and most, if not all, of Massachusetts, no interference was attempted against the 
English colonists. In the first place, the English colonies became the more populous, and in the 
second place, the forces of New Netherlands found Indian troubles enough to keep them busy 
without engaging in hostilities with the strong settlements of their Eastern neighbors. 

But the South River region was different. The Dutch claim to the region was as insistent as 
that which lield Manhattan, but it was more difficult to defend, because it had not been found pos- 
sible to plant and maintain in that region colonies large enough or forces strong enough to resist 
the Indians on the one hand, and foreign intruders on the other. The Swanendael experiment 
had been the most imi)ortant attempt at Dutch Settlement west of the South River, but it had 
failed. Settlements made at Fort Nassau and at other points on the East (New Jersey) side of 
its river had one by one been broken up. Tlie English claimed the region as a part of Virginia, 
for a long time, but in 1632 Charles I included the part of it west of South River in a grant 
which he made to the young Caecilius Calvert, Lord Baltimore, of a region which the King him- 
self directed should be named Maryland, after his queen, Henrietta Maria. 

But for some time negotiations had been going on in Europe which were destined to intro- 
duce a new nationality into the South River region whose claims would be equally unacceptable 
to the Dutch and the English. The originator of the scheme was a Dutchman who was a recog- 
nized expert in commercial and colony organizations and exploitations. William Usselinx was a 
native of Antwerp, but for years resident in Holland. As a young man he had lived for years at 
Fayal. in the Azores Islands, as agent of European houses and as merchant on his own account. 
It is said that he had visited Brazil and the West Indies, but as Fayal was a place of call and sup- 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



21 




22 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



I)ly tor vessels engaged in the West Indian trade, he had there the best opportunities for gaining 
the thorough instruction in the commerce and the situation of the West Indies, with which he was 
later credited. He had already amassed a large fortune when, in 1591, he left the Azores and 
made his home in Holland, being then twenty-three or twenty-four years old. Being a Protes- 
tant, he could not go to live in his native town of Antwerp, which had been taken by the Spaniards 
in 1585. His knowledge of the West Indian trade and his genius for organization brought him 
into the favor of the merchants of the Netherlands. The success made by the Dutch East India 
Company had made a deep impression on the commercial and maritime community in Holland, 
and Usselinx, who was an enthusiast in his advocacy of Dutch participation in the commercial 
possibilities of the West Indies and South America, was urged to draw up, in 1604, a subscrip- 
tion i:)aper to be circulated among the merchants of Holland and Zeeland. His work resulted, 
finally, in the creation of the Dutch W^est India Company. He had before written pamphlets and 
otherwise agitated in favor of challenging the m istery of Spain in the commerce of the West 
Indies, following the brilliant achievements of Maurice of Nassau, the Great Stadtholder, in 
freeing the United Netherlands politically from Sjxanish control. 

Usselinx had advocated the formation of the West India Comj)any largely as a matter of 
war and reprisal against Spain. But the approval of the States of Holland could not be secured 
for it. The agitation continued for years, and, when the twelve years truce came, the arguments 
of Usselinx, based not only on the existence but also desirability of war, were no longer 
convincing. But Hudson's discovery, and the subsecjuent creation of a Dutch territory in America, 
followed by developments of the United New Netherland Company, gave ground for a renewal 
of the demand for the organization of the West India Company. It was not until 1621, however, 
that the company was finally organized. Usselinx was at first active and influential in the com- 
pany, but he soon became disatisfied with its administration and especially with the small atten- 
tion paid to its duty of colonizing the new country. It also appears, from some authorities, that 
the fortune he had brought from Fayal in 1591 had not been successfully husbanded and that it 
l>ecame necessary for him to retrieve his fortunes. 

Still an enthusiast on the subject of American colonization he determined to try a new organ- 
ization. His ])urpose could not be achieved through the Dutch, so he took his appeal to Sweden, 
whose great King, Gustavus Adolphus. became interested, as early as 1624, in a project fathered 
and drafted by Usselinx, to create a Swedish West India Company, Usselinx was granted a royal 
commission to organize the company, which was to carry Protestant Christianity as well as 
Colonists and supplies, to America. Gustavus Adolphus gave a considerable sum to start the 
enterprise, which was nobly planned to be an adventure in Christian colonization with just gov- 
ernment and religious liberty. The king issued an edict in 1627, giving commendation to the plan 
and inviting popular subscrij^tions to the enterprise, which met with great favor in Stockholm. 
But the Thirty Years' W^ar drew the king's attention away from other things, and in 1632 he 
fell at the battle of Liitzen. He left instruction; that the American project should be cared for by 
his little daughter Christina, under the direction of the distinguished statesman. Count Axel Oxen- 
stierna, chancellor of Sweden. 

For a few years after the death of Gustavus Adolphus. Sweden was too fully occupied 
with the Thirty Years' War to take hold of any Colonial enterprise, but finally it claimed atten- 
tion, and arrangements were made to push it to success. Peter Minuit, who had been the first 
Director General of the Dutch West India Company was secured as an active leader, and it was 
decided to plant the colony on South River. This region was thought to be available because 
the Dutch, who had claimed it and had at one time made inefifectual attempts to settle it, had 
withdrawn their settlers and their forces. The English had made no serious effort to reduce it to 
possession, and from the Swedish standpoint, had no better claim to the region than the fact 



THE SrORY OF PI 1 1 LAJ^ELPHI ,\ o^ 



that the Cahols, flying the British flag, had sailed in sight of the Capes at the entrance of the 
Bay. in 149S. Minuit, who, with Ussehnx. knew ahout the claims and conditions in New 
Netherland. had no very friendly feeling for the Dutch West India Company, which had made 
him the scapegoat for the dissatisfaction which had heen engendered in the distrihution of the 
patroonships, although in that matter he had exactly fulfilled the rules of the company and the 
instructions of its directors. His dismissal from the service of the company left him disgrunt- 
led, and at the same time freed him from any obligation to ser\e the interests of that organiza- 
tion. Therefore, he readily fell in with the project to send him out as commissioner of the 
Swedish Expedition to colonize the South River region as a Swedish colony. 

Among those who became interested in thi^ enterprise was Samuel Blommaert. who had 
previously been associated with Samuel Goydn in promoting and financing the Swanendael enter- 
prise on South River, which came to such a disastrous end. Blommaert was a friend and patron 
of Usselinx and also a friend and correspondent of Oxenstierna, the Swedish chancellor. P.lom- 
maert was rather more attracted to the part of the Usselinx program which ])roposed to colon- 
ize in Brazil, and by spoiling the mines and settlements of the Sj)aniards and Portuguese 
on land, and privateer work against their galleons at sea, to get much treasure in gold and silver. 
That part of the project was hazardous, but if it should be successful would bring quick returns. 
But Oxenstierna. though bold and masterful wlien the occasion required, was convinced that 
the peaceful settlement of a j)roductive country was likely to ])rove more advantageous in the 
end, and therefore favored the South River enterprise. 

Another Dutch friend of the Swedish chancellor was Peter S])iring, who was an internu-diarv 
between Holland and the Swedish Court. It was he who. being employed by the Swedish ( iov- 
ernment to raise money and make arrangements for starting the colony project to moving. ])ro- 
cured from Peter Minuit a complete and comprehensive plan for making a .settlement of Swedes 
on the South River. It was at first proposed thit the enterprise should include a factory on the 
coast of Guinea, as well as a colony in America. Minuit estimated the minimum requirements of 
the expedition as including a vessel of from one hundred and twenty to two Inmdred tons, a 
cargo worth from ten thousand to twelve thousand guilden in goods, a ship's comjxmy of from 
tw^enty to twenty-five men, provisions for a year, a dozen soldiers to serve as a garrison at the 
post, and a small vessel to be stationed at the settlement. 

In 1636 Spiring, who had been knighted in Sweden, was sent to Amsterdam as Swedish 
resident and counselor of the finances ; and also took to Blommaert a commission as Swedish com- 
missary at Amsterdam, with an annual salary of one thousand riksdaler. Conferences between 
Spiring, Blommaert and Minuit brought modifications of the original ])lan. The idea of estab- 
lishing a factory on the Gold Coast was abandoned, and it was decided to plant a Swedish colony 
in North America, on soil not in possession of either Dutch of luiglish. The preparations were 
made very quietly, so as not to alarm the Dutcli West India Company, and the enterprise was 
financed half in Amsterdam by Blommaert, Minuit and their friends and half in Sweden by Spir- 
ing, the three Oxenstiernas and Clas Fleming, acting chief of the Swedish admiralty. The cost 
of the expedition was estimated at twenty-four thousand Dutch florins. It sailed under the aus- 
pices of the Swedish West India Company, whicli had a charter with privileges equivalent to 
those of the Dutch East India Company to trade in Africa, America and Australia south of the 
thirty-sixth degree of north latitude. The passports for the vessels Kalmar Nyckel (Key of 
Kalmar). a large armed vessel, and the Vogel Grip ( Griftin Bird), a sloop yacht for shallow water, 
were issued on August 9, 1637. but Minuit's illness, bad weather and other causes delayed the 
departure until nearly the end of December. The vessels, therefore, did not arrive in the Dela- 
ware until March, the first definite date of the Swedish occupation being March 29. 1638, on 
which date Minuit bouerht land on the Delawa-c from an Indian chief. This was the natural 



24 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



thing for Minuit to do. for in doing it he carried out the same poHcy which he had followed 
when he became the first Director General of New Netherland, and bought Manhattan Island 
from the Indians for sixty guilden ($24) in 1626. 

Minuit and his successors in the founding of Dutch colonies, went upon the principle that 
the Indians, as the aboriginal inhal)itants of the country, were the owners of the land, and it 
was one of their favorite argtmients, in their contentions with the English over the titles to their 
colonies, that the lands were their by right of possession. The English, on the other hand, pre- 
sented the argument that the Indians were nomads who had in no real sense ever reduced the 
land to possession in such a way as to give them title to convey it. 

Peter Minuit, in taking up the lands on the Delaware for the Swedish Company and Queen, 
endeavored to cover the territory as far as possible with purchases from the natives. He was 
careful, too. to preserve definite memoranda of having done so. An interesting document which 
is still preserved in the printed annals of the period is a copy of an affidavit of four sailors of 
the ship Kalinar Nyckel, upon which Minuit came to his governorship. The sailors were Michell 
Simonssen. the mate, and Pieter Johanssen, the first boatswain, both Dutch; Johan Joachimssen, the 
gunner, also probably Dutch, and Jacob Evertssen Sandelin, the second mate, a Scotchman. The 
deposition which was made before an Amsterdam notary, tells how the first Swedish expedition 
arrived in Christina Creek, and how the Indians ceded their lands to the newcomers, and were 
paid for them in good faith, the land being sold "with all its jurisdiction, sovereignty and rights 
to tl:e Swedish Florida Company, under the protection and patronage of the most illustrious and 
most mighty Princess and Virgin Christina, elected Queen of the Swedes, Goths and Wends." 

The use of the name "Swedish Florida Company" in this document serves to bear out the 
statement made by several writers of the history of this period to the effect that Minuit did not 
give the Amsterdam directors of this Swedish enterprise definite information in regard to the 
e.xact location of New Sweden. It seems clear that Samuel Blommaert did not know that this 
land claimed for Sweden included the original patroonship of Swanendael, which he and his asso- 
ciate, Samuel Godyn, and others, had only two years before reconveyed to the Dutch West India 
Company. Further evidence of Blommaert's lack of knowledge of the identity of the two settle- 
ments is furnished by constant reference in his letters to the "voyagen till Florida." 

"The first landing of the Swedes and Finns," says Smith's History of New York, which is 
one of the earliest histories of the colony, "was at Cape Inlopen, the interior Cape of Dela- 
ware, which, from its pleasant appearance to them they named 'Paradise Point.' They are said 
to have purchased from some Indians the land from Cape Inlopen to the Falls of Delaware, on 
both sides of the river, which they called 'New Sweden Stream.' " The settlement was made on 
Min(|uas Creek, later renamed the Christina, afterward corrupted to "Christiana Creek," and 
started the place known as Christiana, on the site now occupied by part of the City of Wilming- 
ton, Delaware. 

Minuit's knowledge of the country and of the Indian character proved of much value in 
starting the colony of New Sweden on a career of promise and prosperity, and his special experi- 
ence in connection with the fur trade started a prosperous business in furs. Wilhelm Kieft, then 
Director General, had early knowledge of the planting of the Swedish colony by Peter Minuit, 
and as early as April 28, 1638, had written to the Dutch West India Company in regard to the 
intrusion of the new colony, which he regarded as a serious menace to the safety and general wel- 
fare of New Netherland. In May he addressed a remonstrance to Minuit protesting most 
emphatically against the intrusion of a new European nationality and sovereignty into New 
Netherland. He especially objected to such intrusion being under the direction of Peter Minuit, 
"for the reason that the fact of Dutch sovereignty over the region was widely known and notor- 
ious." and he asserted that "the whole of the South River of New Netherland has been in Dutch 



THE STORY OF I'll ILADRJ.PHIA 25 



possession many years, al)ove and below, beset witb forts and sealed with their blood," which he 
adds, ''has happened even during your administration in New Xcthcrland, and is thus well 
known to you." 

Minuit paid little attention to the protests and warnings of Kieft, but finally sent him word 
that his queen had as much right on the South Ri\er as Kieft's company. He built a fort, was 
liberal in his gifts to the Indians and thus secured for his colony a very large share of their 
furs and skins, and after having organized the various enterprises and projects of the colony 
upon a working basis, he sailed away with his two ships. There is some conflict in the records 
as to what became of Peter Minuit, but the one which seems most probable is that which declares 
that he lost his life in a gale at sea. Acrelius, usually very accurate, even says that he served 
faithfully at his post until 1641, when he died and was buried at Fort Chistina. But Minuit was 
too energetic and impressive an administrator to have ruled the colony unobserved by Kieft, who 
reported to his company that "Minuit has built a fort near South River, and draws all the skins 
toward him by his liberal gifts. He has departed with the two ships he had with him, leaving 
twenty-four men in the fort provided with all sorts of merchandise and provisions. He has 
put down posts, on which are the letters 'C. R. S.' — Christina Regina Suesciae (Christina, Queen 
of Sweden). Jan Jansen has^ according to my orders, protested against this, to which he gave 
an answer, a copy of which goes herewith. We afterward sent him a formal written protest, but 
he did not feel inclined to answer it. His proceeding is a great disadvantage to the Company." 

The researches of Professor Odhner have confirmed the statement of Kieft, which most of 
the earier historians disputed. He declares that Minuet busied himself with preparations for 
the safety of the colony, supplied the fort with provisions and articles for barter with the Indians, 
and prepared for his return. He left Fort Christina in charge of Lieutenant Mans Kling, a Swede, 
and the civil government in charge of Hendrick Huyghen, who was a brother-in-law of Minuit, 
and had been formerly associated with him in a sul)ordinate capacity in the administration of New 
Netherland. 

Before leaving, Minuit dispatched the yacht (h'iffin ahead, with part of the cargo l)rought 
out from Gothenburg, with instructions to barter the goods in the West Indies. He followed 
in the same direction soon after, w^ith the Kalmar Nyckel, and reached St. Christopher, upon 
which island he traded his goods for a cargo of tobacco. He was prepared to sail for home 
when he was invited by a Dutch skipper aboard a ship in the harbor called Het Migende Hert 
(the Flying Deer). While he visited this vessel a hurricane of great intensity came up and 
drove all the vessels in the harbor out to sea. Many of the shjpsjqst their masts, or were other- 
wise disabled, and the Flying Deer and Minuit were never seen again. The Kalniar Xyckel weath- 
ered the storm without serious damage, returning to port and afterward cruising around for 
several weeks trying to find news of Minuit, but hearing none, she sailed for Sweden. In 
November, 1638, while in the North Sea, she encountered another storm and ])Ut into a Dutch 
port to refit before finishing her voyage to Gothenburg. 

The Griffin, finishing her trading cruise in the West Indies, returned to New Sweden. Some 
time later she took on a cargo of furs, and after a voyage of only five weeks ( which was consid- 
ered a great feat of speed in those days), arrived in Gothenburg in May, 1639. 

It appears from a letter which Blommaert wrote to the Swedish Chancellor that he was dis- 
pleased with Minuit because he had gone trading to the West Indies instead of making a direct 
return to Europe. It also appears that the Dutch West India Company was none too well 
pleased at the idea of trade rivalry from Sweden in territory which they claimed as their own. 
There is no doubt that the company itself, and Wilhelm Kieft. who represented it as Director 
General in New Netherland, would not have hesitated to adopt a more rigorous policy against 
the intruders if thev had been of any nation other than Sweden. But the glamour and glory of 



26 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



the brilliant ser\ice which Gustavus Adolphus, its most doughty champion, had rendered to the 
cause of Protestantism in Euroi)e, was no more highly appreciated anywhere than in the Dutch 
Netherlands. The Dutch West India Company, therefore, realized that any conflict with the 
country ruled by the daughter of Gustavus Adolphus would be extremely unpopular in Holland. 

The first year of the colony at Christina was a prosperous one. resulting in the shipment of 
thirty thousand skins to Sweden, and this was a competition keenly felt by the Dutch West India 
Company. In the second year, the colony was not so active. A second expedition had been sent 
from Sweden, which included among its emigrant passengers Rev. Reorus Torkillus. the first 
Christian minister of the Delaware region and the first Lutheran minister in America. The 
colony suffered considerably from climatic diseases, and in matters of trade, and the initiation of 
new colonial activities sadlv missed the organizing abilities so cons])icuously efficient in Peter 
Minuit. 

There was a good deal of dissatisfaction on the part of the lOutch partners in the Swedish 
enterprise, but Clas Fleming, president of the Swedish College of Commerce, and his secretary, 
Jan Beyer, set about organizing a second expedition for New Sweden. They commissioned a 
Dutch captain, Cornelis Van Vliet, to take out another party of colonists in the Kalmar Nyckel. 
Gathering a considerable number of Swedish emigrants, with cattle, farming tools, supplies and 
merchandise, the vessel set sail from Gothenburg in the fall of 1639. She was soon found to 
be leaking badly, and therefore put in at Medemblik, Holland, for repairs, which caused much 
delay. Spiring and Blommaert had provided money for the voyage, and Spiring, who had charge 
of the arrangements, discharged Van Vliet and substituted Pouwel Jansen as skipper. The ship 
did not finally start on its voyage until February 7, 1640. and it arrived at Fort Christina on 
April 17. The most important among the passengers was Peter Hollander Ridder, who brought 
with him an ap])ointment by the New Sweden Company as governor of the colony. He was of 
Dutch or German origin, but had been in the Swedish service at least from 1635. having been 
employed by the Swedish Admiralty in various capacities in Finland and Sweden. In the fall of 
1640 many members of the garrison were disabled by malarial fever. 

The third expedition of colonists to New Sweden came from Holland under a Swedish com- 
mission granting certain lands and privileges to the charterers, Gothart de Rehden, De Horst. Fen- 
land and others, under which emigrants, cattle, etc, arrived in New Sweden in November. 1640 
in the ship Fredenburg. commanded by Captain Powelson. The grant made in return for these 
shipments gave them the right to take u]) land on the north side of South River, at least four 
or five (lerman miles below Fort Christina, and bring it into actual cultivation within ten years. 
The grant was later transferred to Henry Hockhammer & Co., who agreed to send two or three 
vessels with more colonists and supplies, and found a new colony in New Sweden. A quaintly 
expressed clause intended to safeguard religion and education appears in the grant, which enjoins 
the patroons that they were to ])refer the Augsburg Confession of Faith (Lutheran), but might 
profess the "pretended Reformed religion." They were at all times to support as many minis- 
ters and schoolmasters as the numl)er of inhabitants should seem to require, and in their selec- 
tion of men for these oftices should give preference, to those "willing and capable of converting 
the savages.' 1 he grantees were to be free to engage in every kind of industry, trade and com- 
merce with friendly powers, and were to be exempt from taxes for ten years. 

In the conditions and privileges of this grant there was much greater liberality than in any 
made ])y the Dutch West India Company, which was a stringent monopoly, and failed to make 
such headway in colonization as was accomi)lished by English colonies because of the hampering 
restrictions and heavy taxes attached to all their colony grants. The executive of this Dutch 
colony in New Sweden was Joost de Hogaert, who besides being the commandant was especially 
comnfissioned as general agent of the Swedish Government on the Delaware River and was 



THE STORY OF Pfl/LAmiLPHIA 



27 




28 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



charged to miss no opportunity of sending to Sweden any information which might be useful to 
Her Majesty (Queen Christina) and the Crown of Sweden. A salary of five hundred florins 
annually was attached to this office, and if Bogaert should give sufficient proof of attachment 
to this service and zeal for the welfare of Sweden, another hundred florins was to be added to 

the salary. 

Kieft. the Director General of New Netherland, while he had maintained a consistent posi- 
tion of diplomatic protest against the creation of a New Sweden on the Delaware, was restrained 
by his instructions from taking any active steps toward military assertion of Dutch hegemony over 
that region. The Dutch West India Company was a commercial organization, whose aims toward 
success largely depended upon peaceful occupancy. Therefore, as the Swedes on the Delaware 
seemed to be anxious to cultivate friendship with their Dutch neighbors, there was no spirit of 
active aggression upon either side. 

It was the aim of the West India Company, also, to avoid conflicts with the English, and 
Kieft's orders were to that eft'ect. But the English were aggravatingly insistent upon their 
claim of ownership of all America on the Atlandc Seaboard between Florida and New France, 
and this claim was backed up by several attempts at settlement along the Delaware. One of 
these was I)y Captain Thomas Yong who has left records made in letters to Sir Toby Matthew, 
a Catholic courtier holding confidential place in the court of Charles I. Yong, who was born 
in London in 1579. became active in 1633 in the promotion of an enterprise to undertake the 
discovery of a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, of which he believed Delaware Bay to 
be the eastern estuary. It is assumed by some writers that he was a Catholic, and that his plan, 
while ostensibly looking to the discovery of a Northwest Passage, was really aimed at the pro- 
motion of Catliolic settlements in America. Others deny this any say that so far as can be 
traced his family were all adherents of the Church of England. It is true, however, that he had 
many friends and patrons who were Catholics, but they were all people who were very near to 
King Charles I. who was at that time very accessible to Roman Catholic influences. Yong's 
friendliness to Catholics, therefore, may have been more political than religious. Beside his 
letters to Sir Toby Matthews, he wrote a full "Relation" of his voyage to Sir Francis Windebank, 
Secretary of State, who was also a Catholic. 

Yong went first to Virginia, where he talked to the leaders on both sides in regard to the 
diverse claims of William Claiborne and Lord Baltimore to the ownership by the provinces of 
Virginia or Maryland of Kent Island, regarding which he reported in a letter to Sir Toby Mat- 
thew, dated July 13, 1634. On July 20 he set sail from Jamestown, and arrived in Delaware Bay 
on July 25. He went up the Delaware River until he came to falls which obstructed him. He tells 
of taking possession of the river for His Majesty, naming it "Charles River" in his honor, 
"and there sett up His Majesties amies upon a tree, which was performed with solemnities usuall 
in that kind." He had several friendly encounters with Indians, and was told by them that the 
Dutch had alread}- made settlements upon the river. Later he came up with Hollanders, whose 
ship was in the river, and (juestioned them as to their authority for settling on this river (which, 
he records, they called "South River"). The Hollanders told him that they had been settled there 
by the Governor of New Netherlands. "To which I replyed," he continues, "that I knew no such 
(lovernor. nor no such place as New Netherlands." After reproving the Dutchmen for invad- 
ing His Majesty's dominions, and showing them his commission with the Great Seal, he pro- 
fessed his desire to be courteous to subjects of s i ancient allies of his prince, but recommended 
them to leave the river within two days. After the date of this "Relation" Yong went Northeast 
and shifted his investigations to the Kennebec River, up which he went with his party, who, by 
carrymg their canoes over portages a few times, reached into French Territory, where he was 
captured by a French captain and deported to France. His name does not subsequently appear 



THE STORY OF PmLAnJiLrillA 29 

in records of American history or discovery. 

"New Albion" was the name of another en'er])rise launched Ijy the British, of which Sir 
Edmund Plowden was the central figure. Sir Edmund, who was a Catholic of Wansted, Hamp- 
shire, the second son of Francis Plowden, of Pbwden, Herefordshire, received a patent in 1634 
from the Viceroy of Ireland under Charles I. It is said that the grant was faultily drawn, vague 
in its provisions, and inconsistent in its descrip.ion of the large domain it purported to confer 
on its grantee, extending on both sides of the Delaware River. Styling himself the Earl Palatine 
of New Albion, Sir Edmund made his headquarters at Accomac. in Northampton County, Vir- 
ginia. His claims were backed by Governor Berkeley, of Virginia, who wrote to Governor 
Ridder of New Sweden, under date of March 18, 1642, in favor of Sir Edward Plowden. It 
was addressed to "the Right Worthy Governor of the Swedes," and to "Henrick" Huygen, "in 
charge of the South River." The letter recited the real and imaginary discoveries, settlements and 
occupations of the English on both sides of the Delaware, and their rights there, and admonished 
the Swedes of that region to submit to the authority of the English crown, and to recognize the 
title and dominion of "Governor" Plowden. Governor Ridder gave no recognition to their claim, 
nor to another British development near the site of Salem, New Jersey, of which more will be 
said later. His term as executive was al)out to close, and he kept himself as clear as possible from 
every international complication. 

Oxenstierna. the Swedish Chancellor, had determined to make an effort to secure for the gov- 
ernorship of New Sweden a more virile and efifective administration, which was all-important if 
the colony should, by any means, be called upon to give any worthy measure of protection to its 
people from the aggressions of neighboring but alien administrations. His choice- rested upon 
Lieutenant Colonel Johan Printz, who, in August, 1642, received his commission as the first Royal 
Governor of New Sweden, those who had preceded him having been company appointees. Johan 
Printz, the most prominent figure in the history of New Sweden, was born in Bottnaryd, in Sma- 
land. South Sweden, in 1592. He received a very thorough and liberal education in the Univer- 
sities of Rostock, Greifswald. Leipzig. Wittenberg, and Jena. His youth was passed in various 
adventures in Germany and Italy, and in the armies of France and Austria. In 1625 he returned 
to Sweden, entering the army, and serving in the German campaigns of the Thirty Years' War. 
In 1638 he was raised to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Being forced to surrender the city of 
Chemnitz, Saxony, in 1640, he was removed from his command. In 1642. at the age of fifty, he 
received knighthood, and on November 1, after having been commissioned as Governor of New- 
Sweden, he embarked on the Fama, which sailed first to the West Indies, and anchored in the 
harbor of Antigua late in December. Besides Governor Printz. Christer Boije. Johan Pape- 
goija and Rev. John Campanius were passengers on the Fama. and Gregorius van Dyck returned 
to the colony on that vessel. 

After the second expedition to New Sweden in 1640 the New Sweden Comi)any was entirely 
under Swedish control. To give stronger emphasis to this strictly national character of the col- 
ony it was thought wise to enlist new men to replace the Dutch soldiers and servants in Fort 
Christina. This part of the work had been placed in the hands of Johan Papegoija, who had 
spent some considerable time at that task before the Fama sailed. But it was found very difficult 
to find persons willing to emigrate to New Sweden, and the number secured on the volunteer 
plan proved quite inadequate. Therefore, the Council of State decreed that poachers and deserter 
soldiers should be deported to New Sweden, Even with this addition larger numbers were needed, 
and several governors in the Central and Northern Provinces of Sweden were instructed to catch 
such Finns as were known to be destroying the forests and doing damage to the woods at the 
mines and deport them to New Sweden. Later it was ordered that citizens who could not pay 
their debts should also be shipped to the colony. This last addition to the Hst of subjects finished 



3(1 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



up a shipload of emigrants. As in other new colonies, the people of New Sweden objected to 
receiving j^eople sent out because of their crimen. But the Council felt that they would not raise 
objections to receiving lawbreakers selected upon the principle that persons "who had not com- 
mitted such crimes that other people shunned th -ir company" could be deported to New Sweden. 

The })assengers spent their Christmas hoHd lys in Antigua, and the English Governor enter- 
tained Governor Printz, Rev. Johan Campanius and other officers at his own home. At the 
beginning of January, 1643, the colonists were under way, carrying with them as many oranges 
and lemons as they could find room for. The Fama arrived in Delaware Bay about the end of 
January, 1643, and in the midst of a terrific snowstorm ran ashore and lost her mainmast, spritsail 
and three large anchors. She did not reach Fori: Christina until February 15. Besides the Fama, 
the ship Swan took part in this expedition, and carried merchandise for trading purposes. She 
also sutYered considerable damage, and jiart of the cargo was ruined. After unloading and 
repairing the vessels and equipment, the Fama and Swan returned, weighing anchor on April 4. 
The Fama carried some homeward-bound colonists. Peter Hollandaer Ridder, the retiring gov- 
ernor, returned on this vessel, and never came back to New Sweden. He was advanced steadily 
in the service of the Swedish Crown, and in 1653 became commander of the Castle of Viborg. 
in Finland, which office he retained until his deith, at the age of eighty-four, in 1691. 

Almost at once, after landing in New Sweden in February, 1643, Governor Printz estab- 
lished his hou.sehold on Tinicum Island, and later transferred the capital of the colony from 
Christina to his new home, which he named Nya Gothenburg. David Pietersen de Vries, artil- 
lery master, mariner, adventurer. New Netherland patroon, and the most veracious and clear- 
visioned of the early chroniclers of New Netherland, visited the Delaware in October, 1643, the 
last of the six voyages described in his "Korte Historiael ;" or, "Short Historical Notes." He tells 
of revisiting the South River and the site of Swanendael, the colony destroyed by the Indians 
in 1630, of which he was one of the patroons. At that time there were, he said, three Swedish 
forts, the first of which, going up river, he calls "Elsenburg" (Fort Nya Elfsborg, built by the 
Swedes that same year, 1643), a short distance below Varken's Kill (now Salem Creek, New 
Jersey) ; the second he called Fort Christian (Christina), and the third. New Gothenburg (Nya 
Goteborg), on Tinicum Island. As the ship came abreast of Fort Nya Elfsborg the Swedes 
fired for the ship to strike its flag. The skipper asked De Vries if he should strike it, and he 
replied: "If I were in a ship belonging to myself, I would not strike it, because I am a patroon 
of New Netherland, and the Swedes are a people who have come into our river ; but you came 
here by contrary winds and for purposes of trade, and it is therefore proper that you should 
strike." The skipper followed this suggestion, and a skil¥ came out with some Swedes, who 
informed them that the Governor was at New Gothenburg. Sailing there, De Vries and the skip- 
])er went to Governor Printz, who welcomed them. The Governor's trader, who had been in 
New Amsterdam, recognized DeVries as the former patroon of Swanendael, and DeVries and 
his skipper were cordially entertained and feasted by the Governor. DeVries describes Printz 
as "a man of great size, who weighed over four hundred pounds" ; and he found him a man of 
wide knowledge, considerable executive ability, and withal of convivial habits, who drank wine 
and strong waters none too moderately. Another writer, speaking of his huge size, records that 
the Indians called Printz "the Big Tub." 

During the same trip DeVries went up the river on a visit to Fort Nassau, and on his return 
he went again to see Governor Printz, who piloted him on a visit to Fort New Gothenburg. 
Then, after the skipper had exchanged wines for skins and peltries of various kinds, the ship 
ended its week's trip to the Delaware River and went out to sea. Although DeVries was a very 
who, like himself, possessed a truly cosmopolitabout getting along with a man like Johan Printz, 
patriotic Hollander, he would have no difificulty an spirit. Printz had a genius for observation. 



77//: .v7Y)/v']' OF riiii..\ni'.i.piii,\ 



and the reports which he sent to Sweden showed him to l)e a keen and analytical jud,£je and 
a])]>raiser of men, stintin<:j no praise where prais? was dne. hnt ele\erly critical of misconduct and 
impatient of fratid or deceit. 

A o"ood deal of a martinet, with a militarist li-ainint,'- which inclined him lo force thinirs 
through, he "-overned with the strong arm of th2 soldier. Considering the untoward conditions 
with which he had to contend, he made a success of his administration and did manfully the dif- 
ficult governmental tasks which were laid upon his l)road shoulders. He successfully main- 
tained Swedish sovereignty along the South River against the rival claims of the Dutch and 
English, and extended the hounds of his colony. He ruled in a rough-and-ready way, appro- 
priate to the rude frontier conditions of the times, and gave to New Sweden the most prosperous 
decade of its history. He took a strong interest in the welfare of the Lutheran Church, and was 
a regular attendant at its services. He was, when occasion required, a good deal of a diplomat. 
He carried on a successful trade with the Indian^, and succeeded much better than the Dutch in 
getting and holding tlieir trade. Although he made his administration one notable for its success 
in dealing with Indians and withstanding Dutch and English encroachments, he had no illusions 
as to the character and sentiments of any of these groups. This is amply shown in the letters he 
sent to the Swedish officials, in which he outlin?s the history of the Colonics for the edification 
of those who were backing the enterprise. 

Writing in 1644, he speaks of the fact that although the llollandcrs "do not gladly see us 
here, but always protest and in the meanwhile loosen the tongue, yet they have nevertheless, since 
I came here, kept and yet keep with us good friendship, especially their commander. William 
Kieft, who often and in most cases, when he has been able, has written to me and advised me 
about what has happened in Sweden, Holland, and other European places. He reminded me, 
indeed, in the beginning in his letters, about ths pretension of the Dutch West India Company 
to this entire river. But since I answered him with as good reasons as I could and knew how, he 
has now for a time relieved me of this protestino^." 

Printz tells how he had been harrowed by "the Puritans." Among these was a party of Bos- 
ton merchants interested in promoting a search for a reputed inland lake, where beavers were 
supposed to abound, and which they believed might be reached by the upper waters of the Dela- 
ware. In this search an expedition, under command of William Aspinwall. came up the river. 
Printz was suspicious of them, but permitted them to pass the Swedish forts. They were, how- 
ever, halted by the Dutch at Fort Nassau, and forced to return to Boston. 

The Governor also had difficulties with the "New Haven Puritans," as he called theiu in 
his 1644 report. This refers to an expedition of the New Haven Delaware Company, which sent 
into the Delaware region, in 1641, a party of settlers, under the leadership of George Lamberton. 
They established themselves on Varkins Kill (now Salem Creek. New Jersey). A group of this 
same New Haven Delaware Company secured, in 1642. a location higher up the river, on Fishers 
Island, or Province Island, at the South side of the mouth of the Schuylkill River. There they 
erected a blockhouse, which, so far as can be deduced from any definite reports or records, was 
the first structure of any kind to be erected within the present limits of Philadelphia. No atten- 
tion was paid to the protests made both by Dutch and Swedes, and finally the Dutch descended 
upon the settlement, burning the blockhouse and adjacent buildings. Many of the settlers were 
carried to New Amsterdam. Some escaped to the Swedes and were naturalized as members of 
that colony and as subjects of the Swedish Crown. Lamberton escaped with his vessel, but was 
afterward caught bv the Swedes and brought to trial in the Swedish Court at Fort Christina. 
Sir Edmund Plowden, who has been before mentioned as claiming, under a grant issued by the 
\'iceroy of Ireland, a large domain on both sides of the Delaware, despatched several vessels with 
commissions to trade in the Delaware River, but Governor Printz, in reporting tliat fact, says: 



^2 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



-1 have not alloyed anyone to pass by, and will not do it, until I receive a command and order 
from Her Royal Majesty, my Most Gracious Queen." 

But these repeated efforts, together with the news that the New Englanders had chased the 
Dutch from the Fresh (Connecticut) River, caused Printz to speak pessimistically of the improb- 
ability that he would scarcely be able to get rid of these Puritans and what he calls their "Phari- 
sean practices" in any peaceful manner. Print? also tells of the Indian outrages against Chris- 
tians ; how the Dutch in Manhattan had fought with them for over a year, and how six 
weeks before he wrote one thousand Indians h:id banded themselves together in Virginia and 
had attacked and savagely murdered over six hundred Christians, and also the Marylanders had 
suffered from the ravages of the Minquas. He believed that New Sweden was none too safe, 
and he recommended that the best thing that could be done for the colony would he to send two 
hundred soldiers to it, to be kept there "until," he says, "we broke the necks of all of them in the 
river, especially as we have no beaver trade with them, but only the maize trade." He believed 
that with such a force a large trade in beavers and other skins could be built up. One drawback 
he found is the scarcity of wampum, or "sevant," as he calls it ; and he recommended sending out 
a cargo of such goods as could be sold in New England or Manhattan, where wampum could be 
bought with the proceeds and used as a currency for procuring beaver and other furs from the 

Indians. 

The remainder of the 1644 report pertains to details in regard to the trade of the colony, 
and a list of the colonists, by which we find that they comprised thirty-four at Fort Christina, 
seventeen at Fort Elfsborg, eight at the Schuylkill plantation; fourteen at the Upland Planta- 
tion, and eighteen, including the Governor, at Tmicum, making a total of ninety-one. The list 
does not include four names which were listed as returning to Sweden. Another list gives the 
names of twenty-six persons who had died in 1643 and 1644, the most notable name being that 
of Rev. Reorus Torkillus, the first preacher of New Sweden. Eight of the others were soldiers 
(one corporal and seven privates) of whom two were killed by Indians. The rest were thirteen 
laborers employed by Hie Company, and four who had died violent deaths, one. a Finn, being 
drowned at Upland, and three others, an Englishman and his Swedish wife and Gerit Elekenn, 
being killed by Indians. 

Governor Printz wrote a second report which was dispatched from New Sweden, Feb. 20, 
1647. In the period of nearly three years which filled in the gap between the two reports. New 
Sweden had largely been left to its own devices, for the people in Sweden were chiefly occu- 
pied with their own troubles, being at war with the Danes until peace was concluded in August, 
1645. Progress is indicated in Governor Printz's second report. Fort Elfsborg had been fairly 
well fortified ; Fort Christina had been repaired from top to bottom; a new fort in Skylenkyll, 
called Karsholm, was nearly completed. In the interval only two men and two small children 
had died, and the colony had increased to one hundred and eighty-three souls. Sven Wass, the 
gunner, on November 5, 1645, had set Fort New Gothenburg on fire, and the people escaped 
naked and destitute, no building, excej^t the barn, having been saved. The severe winter had 
frozen up the Delaware, so that the inhabitants were marooned on Tinicum until March. Sven 
Wass, author of all the trouble, had been tried, and was being sent back to Sweden on the 
vessel that carried the report. Printz had built a new church and a storehouse in New Gothen- 
burg. The church was dedicated September 4, 1646. 

"In order to prejudice the trade of the Hollanders," Printz had built a fine fort called after 
the Swedish royal family, by the name of Fort Wasa, in the great trading path of the Minquas, and 
nearly two miles above this fort he had built a blockhouse on the present Cobb's Creek near the 
Blue Bell Inn, on the road from Darby to Phil idelphia. The vessel Gyllene Haj arrived Oc- 
tober 1. 1646. Its cargo was much needed to give the Swedes currency with which they could 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 33 

trade with the Indians. He complains bitterly against the DiiUii, who. he ^aid, were destroying 
the trade of the Swedes everywhere, were selling guns, shot and powder to the savages, and 
were inciting them against the Swedes, and who iiad bought from the savages within the Swed- 
ish boundaries where the colonists had purchased the property eight years before, and were 
getting much bolder in their assertion of sovereignty on the South River. He still inveighs 
against the attempts of the "English Puritans" to settle in New Sweden, and recites a recent 
endeavor on the part of a certain "Captain Clerk," who had been at New Sweden, asking per- 
mission "to settle a few hundred families under Her Majesty's flag, which I, in a civil way, 
refused, referring the matter to Her Majesty's further resolution." He refers to various needs 
of the colony, and notes that he has sent back a cargo of tobacco. He ends the report with a 
request that he be relieved from the post a' New Sweden, and be permitted to return 
home and be assigned to other service of the Crown. Prince Hall, the Governor's mansion, 
which had been destroyed with the other buildings, was rcl)uilt with much s|)lendor in com- 
parison with any of the structures in that region. 

While the Dutch had been outwardly friendly, their comi)etition had been strenuous, and 
they had, at least officially, not abated one iota of their claim to the Delaware country. Kieft 
had taken no steps against the Swedes, and Jan Jansen, conunissary at Fort Nassau, had 
raised no dissension with them. Jan Jansen w:is recalled, and on October 2. 1645. Andraes 
Hudde succeeded him at Fort Nassau. At that period complaints were frequently lodged with 
the Dutch West India Company against Kieft. because he was accused of allowing the Swedes 
to usurp the South River. After that there was a current of unfriendliness in all the dealings 
and communications between the Swedes and the Netherlanders. 

The old mill had proved to be unsatisfactory, doing its work slowly and in an indifferent 
manner. The Governor built a dam and erected a water-mill a short distance north of New 
Gothenburg (at Cobbs Creek, a tributary of Bushy Creek), where there was good water power, 
and a miller was stationed there and a blockhouse built near the mill to protect the colonists. 
The place, because of the mill, was named Mohidel. In October. 16+6, the Gyllene Haj arrived 
at Fort Christina. It brought the personal command from Queen Christina for Printz to remain 
as Governor of New Sweden, as the Government had no one whom it regarded as so able as 
he to govern the province. The Governor had asked to be released, and he said that when he 
read the Queen's letter he was sad, "but as he saw the signature by her Royal Majesty's own 
hand he was so happy that he no longer remembered his former sadness." He ordered a day of 
thanksgiving, and the colonists came together in the new church at Tinicum to praise God "with 
a holy Te Deum for His grace in having given the Fatherland a Queen who was of age." The 
cargo which had been brought by the Gyllene Hij contained the trinkets and trifles most avail- 
able for use as purchasing currency in buying beaver and other skins from the Indians. 

In a few weeks after arrival Henrich Huygen and Van Dyck. with eight soldiers and an 
Indian guide marched 230 miles into the Minquas country to again greet the Minquas with 
whom they had formerly established trade relations and to resume, if possible, the old traffic 
in furs which had been so long in abeyance because of the non-arrival of goods which followed 
upon the Dano-Swedish war. Mirrors, beads, corals, combs and others of the better grades of 
goods were presented to the chiefs, who promised resumption of their old preference for deal- 
ing with the Swedes, and the discontinuance of traffic with the Dutch. Trade, however, was 
slow in recovering, and while some purchases of corn and skins were made from the Indians, 
it was necessary to buy tobacco to fill out the cargo of the Gyllene Haj. 

The second report of Governor Printz. dated February 20, 1647. went by the vessel when 
it sailed a few days later. A few colonists returned. Johan Papegoja was sent to Sweden at 
the request of the officers and soldiers to report, and another who returned was Rev. Israel 



34 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Fluviander, a relative of Printz, who had gone out to New Sweden with the Governor and had 
been stationed as the pastor at Fort Elfsborg during its erection and conducted services at the 
fort for seven months. After that he was a regular preacher at New Gothenburg. 

After tiie departure of Rev. Israel Fluvianda, Rev. Johan Campanius Holm, the ablest 
and most active of the early Swedish preachers on the Delaware, was left as the sole minister 
of New Sweden. He covered long distances between the widely-scattered districts of the 
colony, holding services and ministering to the spiritual needs of the people. He was an able 
preacher and a much beloved pastor, and besides his work with his compatriots he was a very 
efficient missionary to the Indians of that region, influencing quite a number of them by the 
Gospel message. But the work proved too much for him, and he wrote to the Archbishop 
requesting his recall, "because he was well on in years, and poor in health and could not endure 
the hard labor in this field." As a result Rev. Lars Karlsson Lock was sent out on the Swan in 
January, 1648. and Holm returned to Stockholm on the same vessel after a farewell to his con- 
gregation in the middle of May. He was granted a benefice in Sweden, and greatly commended 
for his good work "in a heathenish country among ferocious pagans." 

Aggressions by the Dutch became more numerous and flagrant. Hudde bought land from 
the Indians which had already been conveyed to the Swedes. In the autumn of 1646 the Dutch 
attem])ted to make settlements north of the present site of Philadelphia. A letter was received 
by Hudde instructing him to buy this land and it reached him while the owner was absent. 
Fludde, however, would not risk the chance that Printz might get the land before its owner 
returned. He therefore took possession of the land two weeks before the purchase was made. 
On the owner returning from his hunt the deeds were drawn up and signed September 12, 
1647. The new owner went with Hudde to take possession of the land in person, and on the 
land the arms of the Dutch West India Company were raised on a pole set in the ground. This 
purchase included Wicacoa (Philadelphia) and stretched northward along the river for several 
miles. Dutch freemen soon erected a dwelling and blockhouse on the land, but when Printz heard 
of the proceedings he built a guard house nearby and sent his quartermaster and other Swedes 
to tear down and destroy the Dutch buildings. Protests and counter protests came to nothing. 
Messengers sent by Hudde to Printz were treated cavalierly and refused an answer. Hudde 
reported the proceedings to Kieft, but Fort Nassau was too weak to carry its protests anywhere 
beyond words. On the other hand Governor Printz felt himself to be in a stronger position 
than ever, liecause he had completed a new fort called Fort New Korsholm ("on the south side 
of a very convenient island about a gunshot from the mouth of the Schuylkill"), which Printz 
felt would enable him to keep out the Dutch from the Schuylkill, and to regulate and monopo- 
lize the Indian trade and to maintain, when needed, an elTective aggressive against hostile attacks 
on Swedish jurisdiction on the Delaware. 

William Kieft, Director-General of New Netherland, had aroused intense dislike and adverse 
criticism by his rash and unnecessary violence and unfairness in dealing with the Indians, which 
had precipitated a disastrous Indian war, and by the fussiness and indecision which marked all 
his executive actitjns. One of the charges that weighed most heavily against him was that of non- 
resistance to the Swedish claim to and occupation of lands in the Delaware, and his non-success 
in allowing the b^.nglish to take and keep possession of the country on the Fresh Water (Con- 
necticut) River. The complaints against Kieft were finally acted upon by the Dutch West India 
Company, and I'etrus Stuyvesant took the place, arriving in May, 1647. His good record as 
Governor of Curacoa in the West Indies, and strong, aggressive, honest character seemed to fit 
him for the task of rehabilitating New Netherlind, and of stoutly maintaining the Dutch side 
of any controversy or conflict with the English or Swedes. His arrival was the beginning of 
serious problems and trouble for New Sweden and its Governor. 



THE STORY OT I'l 1 1 TADELFULi 



Meanwhile there had been a considerable chanjj:c in the character of New Sweden. Lack 
of support from the mother country had hampered the Indian trade ; the fall in price had made 
tobacco an unprofitable crop, and the colonists had abandoned it for Indian corn and small grains. 
But in the spring of 1647. lluygen went again into the country of the lUack Min(|uas with 
merchandise, and, securing the favor of the chiefs by generous gifts, he purchased several 
hundred skins. On May 21, 1647, Governor Prince made a notable land purchase of the Min- 
quas. It covered the land on the west shore of the Delaware "from Philadeli)hia to Trenton 
Falls, and the purchase price was: 'Twenty-four yards of cloth, sixty-five yards of scwant 
(wampum), six axes, four kettles, seven knives, five pounds of cords, two silvered chains, four 
hundred and fifty fishhooks, and a number of trinkets.' " 

The Swan, when it left in May, took a good cargo to Sweden, and by it Printz sent to his 
superiors the Fourth Relation and other documents. Johan Papegoja wrote to the Chancellor 
requesting permission to leave the country and enter the naval service unless more colonists 
should soon arrive. The conditions of several years had been such as to take away many of the 
people. Some had died ; some had removed to other colonies with the Dutch and the English, 
and every vessel going to Sweden had carried returning colonists. A "list of the people s^till 
alive in New Sweden," which, however, contained only adult males and embraced just 79 names, 
including the slaves, was compiled in the spring of 1648. 

Director-General Stuyvesant took early aggressive steps to combat the Swedish activities on 
the Delaware. Hearing that Printz was gathering building material on the river, he ordered 
Hudde, the Dutch Commissary at Fort Nassau, to settle down beside the Swedes whenever they 
began to build. Hudde bought new titles from the Indians and prepared to build a fort, and 
secured the favor of the Indians of that locality so that the Swedes could not remove the Dutch 
because of this Indian backing. The fort was named Fort Beversreede, because it was aimed to 
securely control the beaver trade on the Schuylkill for the Dutch. Some other attempted settle- 
ments by the Dutch were, however, forcibly prevented by the Swedes. 

Stuyvesant had planned to go to South River himself, but other calls on his attention caused 
him to send Vice-Director Van Dincklage and Mr. de la Montague, who were the two next to 
himself in authority in New Netherland, with orders to attend to the Honorable Company's in- 
terests on the South River. They renewed old titles and several Dutch freemen were assigned 
lands on the Schuylkill, but their attempts to reduce them to settlement were forcibly prevented. 
Governor Printz gave the commander at Fort Korsholm strict injunctions to prevent, either by 
friendly words or by force, all Dutch attempts at building. The troubles with the Dutch con- 
tinued, though the trade of New Sweden prospered. In 1650 the Dutch abandoned Fort Bevers- 
reede. Their resistance was restrained for want of aggressive orders from the Dutch West India 
Company, which that company were reluctant to give. Besides. Governor Stuyvesant had heard 
that a ship with a large cargo was expected by the Swedes, and it gave him joy, however, when 
Augustine Herrman, arriving in New Amsterdam in July. 1650. brought news that the ship had 
stranded at Porto Rico and had been captured by the Spaniards. Stuyvesant saw to it that the 
news reached Printz at the earliest possible moment. But Printz was of too stern fibre to lose 
heart. It did, however, inspire him to send by an outgoing Dutch vessel strenuous requests to 
the Swedish Government for supplies, soldiers and men. and also to send Sven Skuto to fully 
explain and personally advocate the needs of the colony. 

Comparative quiet reigned from that time until the fall of 1651. Stuyvesant. knowing that 
the forces at the disposal of Printz were small, thought that he could sufficiently assert Dutch 
authoritv in the Delaware by sending one ship, so he sent a vessel there in May. But the lack of 
aggressive warrant from the company caused him to instruct the captain not to jirovoke or begm 
hostilities. When the vessel anchored between three and four nules below Fort Chnstma, in a 



36 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



position where it might halt any vessel going up or down. Printz had his little yacht made ready, 
manned and fullv armed to meet the Dutch, so that the Dutch skipper, finding that the vessel 
made no aggressive move, concluded that as he had no authority to take the initiative he might 
as well go home; and he sailed for Manhattan. 

Stuyvesant saw that no half-way measures would do. He marched across the country with 
120 men. and on June 25 reached Fort Nassau, where eleven ships, four of them well armed, 
which had sailed around the coast, met him. With this fleet he and his forces sailed up and 
down the river as a demonstration of preparedness. Printz manned his yacht with thirty men 
and followed the Dutch fleet, but made no attempt at hostility. Governor Stuyvesant sent let- 
ters and messengers to Printz setting forth the Dutch claim to the river by right of discovery, pre- 
vious occupation and prior purchase, and Printz answered him with the Swedish argument. 
Stuyvesant secured an Indian title from the chief Peminacka for all the land on the west side 
of the Delaware from Minquas Kill down to the Bay. but the Swedes had bought the same land 
from other chiefs years before. Printz sent copies of these deeds to Governor Stuyvesant, but 
he ignored them. Taking his fleet down the river to a convenient site on the West bank of the 
Delaware, he there landed two hundred men. They began the erection of a fort there which 
was completed by August. It was 210 feet long and about 100 feet wide. Twelve pieces of 
ordnance were mounted on its bulwarks and a large supply of ammunition was provided. This 
fort, named Fort Casimir, dominated the Delaware. Fort Nassau was dismantled and its cannon 
were taken to the new fort. All vessels were made to stop and every trader to pay duty to the 
Dutch before entering the river. 

Printz was powerless against such a fort as this. He was without aid from the mother 
country for more than three years. In August, 1651. he wrote urging new cargoes, but by 
the spring of 1652 none had come. He built a ship of two hundred tons burden, which was a 
large ship for that period, but it lacked the four quite important requisites of sails, tackle, can- 
non and crew, as he wrote to Stockholm in August, 1652. He sent his son, Gustaf Printz, to 
Sweden to try and make the case more convincing. As the Swedes had no cargos to sell the 
Indian trade was ruined and the Indians themselves showed signs of unrest. The grain crop 
of 1652 was badly damaged l)y heavy rains. Foreign residents and the Swedes themselves were 
dissatisfied. 

In the fall, the situation reached its cHmax in a written document setting forth eleven 
grievances of the colonists, signed by twenty-two settlers. It set forth that neither life nor 
property was secure; that settlers were forbidden to trade with either savages or Christians, 
though the Governor took to himself full liberty in this respect; the Governor had passed judg- 
ment in his own favor against the opinions of the jury; he had forbidden the colonists the 
privilege of grinding their flour at the mill ; he had forbidden them the use of the fish-waters, the 
grass on the ground and the land to plant on, which was their dependence for their sustenance. 
Printz was furious. Anders Jonsson, who seemed to be the leading one of the objectors was 
arrested, tried and executed on a charge of treason on ^August 1, 1653. 

The governor replied to the charges two days after the execution of Jonssen, addressing 
the complainants as "rebels." But the answer, more peppery than convincing, gave no satis- 
faction and ]:)romised no amelioration. The complaints were renewed the following year with 
added counts. The grievances were in some cases real, but in large measure exaggerated. Printz 
was a martinet and at some times tyrannical, but he was a good governor according to his lights, 
and got along marvelously well considering the small help which Sweden gave him in the last 
years of his administration. But in the autumn of 1653 he found his position untenable, and he 
determined to go to Sweden to personally present the needs of the colony. After a farewell 
gathering of the Indian chiefs and services in the church. Governor Printz turned over his 



77//: STORY OF PU I I.AIVILPI 1 1 A 



luthority to Jolian Papet;;-oja. and in ( )ct()l)er went to New Amsterdam with his wife and daug-h- 
ters. accompanied by llenrich iluyt^en and ahonl twenty-five settlers and soldiers. Thev all 
took passage in a Dutch vessel. 

Meanwhile Gustaf Printz had arrived in Stockholm and his representations to the Conimer- 
cial College caused an impetus to be given to preparation to relieve the colony. I'rintz had sent 
by his son a request for some man of judicial attainments to attend to the law business of the 
colony, and it was determined to ask Printz to remain as Governor and send Johan Classon Ris- 
ing (or Ris.ingh) as his assistant. But after Printz returned to Sweden it was decided that he 
might be relieved of the Governorship. In 1658 he was made commander of the castle of 
Tonkoping. in southern Sweden, and the following year governor of Jonkopingslan, where he died 
"in 1663. 

After Printz departed several of the Swedes applied for permission to remove to New 
Netherland. Stuyvesant did not dare to accept them without instructions and accordingly refer- 
red the request to Holland, where the idea was approved in a note from the company saying that 
"the influx of free persons should be promoted by all resolute and honest means," but leaving 
the matter to Stuyvesant's judgment. Several of the citizens who had been politely refused 
citizenship in New Netherland applied for permission to go to Maryland and \'irginia. They 
were heartily welcomed by Virginia, and fifteen of the settlers deserted. Papegoja, when he heard 
of their flight, sent Indians after them, but failed to get them. Gottfied Harmar, who is said 
to have been the leader in this movement, afterward wTote from Virginia to some of the settlers, 
advising them to leave the colony and join the English. 

There is no other record of the happenings in New Sweden, except that Fort Korsholrrf 
was burned by the Indians, from the time when Governor Printz left until May 21, 1654, 
when colonists on their way to church heard the roar of the cannons giving the Swedish salute 
before Fort Casimer. It was the ship Orn, which brought the new Governor to New Sweden. 
Johan Classon Rising, whose arrival was such a relief to the little colony, had left Sweden early 
in 1654, and on his arrival in New Sweden in May of that year he found the settlements in 
a state of deep discouragement and dilapidation. No word had come to the colony from Sweden 
for more than six years, and the conditions were so unpromising that many of the settlers had 
gone to find homes among the English in Virginia and Maryland. Less than one hundred re- 
mained. With Rising came over two hundred new settlers, which made a most revivifying addi- 
tion to the depleted colony. The difticulties of the new governor's task were plainly herculean, 
but he was a man of constructive strength and heroic courage, with training and mental equip- 
ment fitting him very effectively for his gubernatorial duties. He was born in 1617 in Risinge, 
Ostergothlandslan, in South Central Sweden, was educated in the gymnasium at Linkoping in 
Sweden, and at the Universities of Upsala and Leyden. Aided by the Swedish Government and 
several patrons among the Swedish nobility, he made researches and investigations in many of 
the capitals and commercial centers of Europe for purposes of general culture, and for special 
knowledge of international trade and commerce and became an acknowledged authority on these 
subjects. He was secretary of the Swedish Commercial College from its inception in 1651 to 1653. 
His position in connection with his special branch of knowledge may be judged from the fact 
that he was author of the first treatise on trade and economics ever compiled in Sweden, his 
attainments and service to commercial education being recognized by the conferring of knight- 
hood upon him by Queen Christina. As the direction of affairs in New Sweden, through the 
chartered company, was placed in 1653 in the hands of the Swedish Commercial College, the 
appointment of Rising to succeed Governor Printz, who had departed from New Sweden in the 
fall of 1653, was very appropriate. Count Eric Oxenstierna was the president of the college. 

The first act of the new governor was one of vigor. Before landing he caused the seizure 



run STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

^o ^ 



of the Dutch Fort Casimer (now New Castle), which Peter Stuyvesant, Director General of New 
Netherland. had erected in 1651, just below Fort Christina. The story of the administration 
of Governor Rising is told with familiar detail in two reports written by him to the Swedish 
Commercial College, and reveals a judicial mind, sturdy loyalty to Swedish interests, and a 
desire to deal justly with all under his direction. He tells in his first report how he had taken 
as his assistants Captain Sven Skute and Lieutenant Johan Papegoja, "with whose counsel and 
co5peration " he says. "I have managed everything that has so far been done here." He relates 
that "the greater part of the colonists indeed complain of Governor Printz. But many of them 
mav have caused him much trouble. Therefore, I handle the case as moderately as I can." He 
planned to make a settlement of the colonists as much as possible along the river itself rather 
than up in the creeks, settling most of them between Christina and Trinity (or Sandhook). 
The latter Fort Trinity, was the new name which Governor Rising gave to Fort Casimer after 
he seized it from the Dutch in 1654, but it has since twice changed its name, being called New 
Amstel by the Dutch in 1656, after Stuyvesant's reconquest of it in 1655, and since the English 
conquest of New Netherland in 1664 has been known as New Castle. 

In his first report dated July 13, 1654, he advises the purchase of neighboring regions from 
the Minqua Indians. His genius for commerce asserts itself in his recommendation of the build- 
ing of a flour mill, a saw mill and a chamois dressing mill, the development of the fisheries and 
timber industries, the need of "brewery and distillery and ale houses and well-fitted inns," as well 
as numerous other operations, the list including in fact nearly every expert handicraft, two of 
those especially mentioned being a "French hat-maker" and "some Dutch farmers." Speaking ol 
the place "Sandhook ..r Trinity," by which he refers to the former Fort Casimer, he records 
that there were "twenty-two houses built by the Hollanders." As to Christina, he had caused 
Peter Martensson Lindestrom to lay out the adjoining field into lots. He discusses the land and 
colonizing question, advising that no grants be made to any person unless he occupies it efifectively. 
He bemoans the fact that so many of the older settlers had already left the colony. He enumer- 
ates the colony as "three hundred and seventy souls, and the Swedes were only seventy when he 
arrived here. ' The old people largely remain (a number of old men go home again); one of 
them is better than any of the new-comers, who are weak and a good part of them lazy and 
unwilling Finns." Discussing church afi:airs, he voices the need of a learned priest, although the 
colony (of three hundred and seventy people) already had three. Of these he mentions Rev. 
Matthias Xertunius as the best one; Rev. Lars Carlsson Lock (a Finn), who, he said, "is accused 
of mutiny, wherefore I have intended to send him home to defend himself, but he is now become 
very ill." (3f the third one. Rev. Peter Laurent ie, who was stationed at Trinity Fort. Governor 
Rising descril)e(l him as both materially and spiritually a poor priest. He advocates the supplying 
of the pastors with land to cultivate, and adds that "priestly vestments, an altar painting and two 
or three l)ells would lie very serviceable here, if we could receive them by the next ship." 

The second letter dated "June 14, 1655 in greatest haste," was received by the Commercial 
College in Stockholm, November 15. 1655. It is chiefly taken up with the trade disadvantages 
of New Sweden as compared with the Dutch at Manathas (Manhattan), and with the English 
in \'irginia and Alaryland, because of the superiority of these other two nations in ships, goods 
and resources, which enabled them to outbid the Swedish traders in buying furs and other 
dealings with the Indians. The third document deals with the conquest in 1655 of the Swedish 
settlements on the Delaware River by General Pieter Stuyvesant. It is a very complete state- 
ment of the case from the Swedish point of view, but as there is an account, equally lucid, 
from the Dutch side it may be well to epitomize the two in a statement which will try to tell 
the story with as much historic accuracy as can l)e evolved from these opposing partisan state- 



THE STORY OF TIIILADELTJJIA 39 



ments. The Dutch side of the story is told by Johannes Bogaert, a writer or clerk, in a letter 
wrilten by him to Hans Bontemantel at Amsterdam, who was a director of the Amsterdam 
C bamber of the West India Company and a schcpcii (magistrate) of y\mstcrdam from 1653 tf) 
1672. 

There is substantial agreement as to the main features of the story though Rising's dates, 
as was then customary with the Swedes, were given in Old Style, and Bogaert's in New Style, 
as then used in the Netherlands, Rising giving August 30, and Bogaert, September 8, as the day 
on which Stuyvesant entered South River. It may be recalled that after the first Swedish intro- 
duction to what was claimed as New Netherland, under IVter Minuit, the Dutch and Swedes 
on the Delaware, though neither in any way admitting ibc l)asic claims to sovereignty put forth 
by the other, had lived in peace and amity. It is true that Wilhelm Kieft, Director-General of 
New Netherland at the time of Minuit's arrival in 1638, had made written protest against this 
Swedish invasion, but no hostilities resulted, and as far as the personal relations of the Dutch 
and Swedish settlers of the Delaware region were concerned they had been quite friendlv. 

But there had been sharp competition for the Indian trade, and the Indians, so far as the 
matter of land transfers was concerned, never hesitated about selling identical tracts first to the 
Dutch and then to the Swedes, or vice-versa, which later proved a frequent basis of dispute. 
As soon as General Pieter arrived, the attitude of the Dutch became more threatening. At that 
time the Dutch had Fort Nassau on the east side of the river, while the Swedes had Nya Klfs- 
borg on the east side, and Christina and Nya Goteborg (New Gothenburg) on the west side. In 
1651 Stuyvesant proceeded with armed forces to the South River, building Fort Casimir on the 
west side of the river close to the site of the present New Castle, and near enough to Fort Chris- 
tina to be a menace to it. Stuyvesant was even then in a mood to come to military conclusions 
with the Swedish settlers, but his orders from the company had counselled him to restraint. 
Later when the Swedish settlement had been depleted by desertions he had written to the company 
for instructions which would enable him to clear the colony of Swedish claims to sovereignty, 
but they had not been forthcoming. 

When Johan Rising had lu-ought his considerable reinforcements to New Sweden in 1654 
he had taken Fort Casimir and changed its name to Fort Trinity. There soon followed rumors 
that a strong Dutch olTensive would be launch '^d against the Swedish settlements. Stuyvesant 
had gone on an expedition to the West Indies and especially to Curacao, but it was evident that 
the orders for which he asked about bow to deal with New Sweden were in awaiting his return, 
because in Governor Rising's letter to the Commi-rcial College, of date July 14, 1655 (O. S.), in 
speaking of the impediments to trade, he says : 

"The Hollenders at Manathes likewise hinder us as much as they can. and threaten strongly 
that Stuyvesant, when he returns from West India and Curacos, where he went last fall with 
three ships * * * will come here and capture Fort Casimir, which we call Trinity. But if 
he comes we will see to it that he is received in the manner of S. Martens ( where he lost one 
bis legs), and we are in no wise afraid about this. But the savages alarm our people with it. 
the savages being thus informed by the Hollanders when they come to Manathes. It accomplishes, 
however, God be praised, very little against us." Though thus expressing confidence. Rising 
strengthened the force and fortifications of Fort Trinity. 

Stuyvesant, upon his return to Manhattan in the late summer of 1655 found there awaiting 
him instructions from the Dutch West India Company not only to retake Fort Casimir. but to 
expel Swedish power from the whole South River region. In the carrying out of these orders 
Stuyvesant organized in August, 1855, the largest military force which, up to that time, had 
been assembled in the Atlantic Colonies. On September 5 the expedition sailed from New 



40 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Anisicrdam. as the settlement at the lower end of Manhattan Island had come to be called, with 
seven vessels: De Waegh (The Balance), flagship; two yachts called the HoUanse Tuijn (Dutch 
Frontier), the Prinses Royael (Princess Royal), a galiot called the Hoop (Hope), mounting four 
guns ; a French privateer L'Esperance, which had just arrived at New Amsterdam and had been 
hired by Stuyvesant to assist in the expedition) ; the flyboat Liefde (Love), mounting four guns; 
the yatch Dolphijn (Dolphin), vice-admiral, with four guns, and the yatch Abrams Ofiferhande 
(Abraham's Offering), as rear admiral, mounting four guns. On the 8th of September the fleet 
arrived at the southernmost Swedish fort, Mya Elfsborg, which, however, they found dis- 
mantled and abandoned. Anchoring there for the night, the fleet proceeded on the next day to 
Fort Trinity (Casimir). The force under Stuyvesant is estimated in Rising's account at 700 or 
800 men. while Bogaert does not give the definite total, but says that it consisted of 317 soldiers 
and a company of sailors. 

Captain Sven Schiite, who was in command of Fort Casimir, had been instructed in writ- 
ing by Governor Rising that when the Dutch ships should appear he should send on board their 
ships and demand "whether they came as friends, and in any case to warn them not to run by 
the said fort, upon pain of being fired upon (which in such case they could not reckon an act 
of hostility) ; but if they were minded to treat with us concerning our territory and boundaries, 
he should compliment them with a Swedish national salute, and assure them that we were well 
disposed toward a fast friendship." On September 10 the Dutch fleet ran close under the guns 
of Fort Casimer and anchored about a cannon shot's distance from it. The troops were landed 
immediately and Lieutenant Dirck Smit, with a drummer, was sent to the fort, to ask surrender. 
On the 11th Sven Schiite sent a flag, requesting to speak with the general, who consented, and 
so Fort Casimir was surrendered without firing a shot. Rising, in his account, bitterly condemns 
Captain Schiite, but it is evident that he was so overwhelmingly outnumbered that resistance 
would have been useless. 

Rising, not knowing that the garrison at Fort Casimir had surrendered, sent "nine or ten 
of his best freemen" to strengthen it. But on arrival at Christina Hill on the morning of the 
13th they found the Dutch posted there, fifty or sixty strong. A fight followed in which all but 
two of the Swedes were captured. Following this episode Hendrick Elswick, factor of New 
Sweden, was sent by Governor Rising from Fort Christina to obtain from Stuyvesant, as Rising 
says, "an explanation of his arrival and intention, and to dissuade him from further hostilities, 
as we could not be persuaded that he seriously purposed to disturb us in the lawful dominions 
of His Royal Majesty and our principals." But Stuyvesant, he says, would give Elswick no 
satisfaction, "but claimed the river and all our territory and had well-nigh detained Elswick 
as a spy." 

Lieutenant Sven Hook, with a drummer, was sent later to inquire the intentions of the 
invaders as they were establishing themselves in a position of advantage on the upper bank of 
Christina Hill, but the Dutch, pretending that they supposed he had come as a spy upon the 
army, because the drummer had no drum, took him and the drummer prisoner. Rising describes 
the preparations at Fort Christina to make the best defense they could, but decided not to begin 
an offensive because of shortage of men and munitions. Several parleys took place, the fly- 
boat Liefde went to New Amsterdam with Swedish prisoners on the 17th. In the parleys 
Stuyvesant would admit no terms short of a surrender of the entire territory claiiried as New 
Sweden. On September 23, news of an Indian uprising in which some Dutch people had been 
killed made Stuyvesant anxious to close up matters on South River, and he demanded a com- 
plete capitulation within twenty-four hours. 

No possibility existing that Fort Christina could withstand a general assault. Governor Johan 
Rising surrendered the fort on September 24. It was provided in the terms of capitulation 



THE STORY OF Tl I ITAnTLPIIIA 



41 



that Governor Rising and as many Swedes as cared to accompany him should be given free 
passage to Sweden by the Dutch. This ended New Sweden. Fort Casimir was made the seat 
of Dutch administration on South River. In 1657 it was named New Amstcl, and the colony 
there was taken over by the city of Amsterdam. 



^ a 



Wessapoat. 
June 25, 1683. 



Kehilappan. 
June 23, 1683. 



ICQUOQUEHAN. 
Julv 14, 1683. 



Malebore. Swanpees. 

July 14. 1683. June 23, 1683. 



Secane. Neneshikken. 

July 14, 1083. July 14, 1683. 



yy f^t i 



Neshannock. 
July 14, 1683. 

SIGNATURES OF INDIANS TO DEEDS FOR LANDS. 



ESSEPENAIKE. 

June 23, 1683. 



i 



Wingebone. 
June 25, 1683. 



« ) ^ 



Kekerappan. 
Sept. 10. 1083. 




Tameken. 
June 2:f, 16Js5. 



H A 



R 



H R E E 



DUTCH CONTROL OF THE DELAWARE RIVER 

Taking a general view of the settlements on the Delaware up to the time of Governor 
Rising's capitulation of Fort Christina to the doughty Dutch director-general. Pieter Stuyvesant, 
it may be said that so far as title to the region is concerned— though none of the clanns had 
much to stand upon— the Dutch had the best of it, and Sweden practically no claim, at all. But 
as colonists the Swedes, though making a very poor showing as compared with the British, either 
in Virginia or New England, had been iiumeasurably better than the Dutch. The Netherlanders. 
outside of the building of forts, had done nothing that savored of ))ermanent settlement. The 
Swedes, on the other hand, came with the intention of remaining. They planted fruit trees, 
especially i)each trees, and 
productive gardens. Acrelius, 
the Swedish historian, tells us 
that they had four meals a 
day. and although the victory 
of Stuyvesant made the Dutch 
masters of both banks of tlu- 
river, the endeavor, which fol- 
lowed, to get them to remove 
to other localities, away from 
the river, was not at all suc- 
cessful. The Swedes listened, 
but made no hostile or other 
response. They just stayed, 
and the Dutch, seeing that the 
Swedish settlers were in the 
majority, let it go at that. 

While the Swedes were in control the government was in form ai:tocratic. The governor 
did about as he pleased, but. except in rare instances, put few restrictions upon the settlers. 
When the Dutch gained control the government was more complex. A vice-director wielded 
power fully as great as that which the Swedish governors had exercised, and was aided by a 
council. There was a schout. who was a compound of sheriff and prosecuting attorney, and a 
number of schepens, or minor magistrates. 

When, after the capitulation, Stuyvesant departed for Manhattan, he appointed Captain 
Derek Smidt to be commissary, or interim commander, until a vice-director should be appointed. 
On November 29, 1655, the Director-General and Council, at New Amsterdam, appointed John 
Paul Jacquet, who had been in the West India Company's service in Brazil, to be vice-director 
and chief in executive charge of all the interests of the Dutch West India Company on South 
River, subject only to the instructions of the Director-General and Council at New Amsterdam. 
Under such control, the local government, with headquarters at Fort Casimir, was by a council, 
consisting of Jacquet, director-general; Andries Hudde, secretary and surveyor; Elmerhuysen 
Klein, councillor; and, with these three, two sergeants, if an aft'air purely military or relating to 
the company exclusively; or, if purely civil, between freemen and the company's servants, then, 
instead of the two sergeants, two most ex];ert freemen should be called into counsel. 




Thk Swhdes' Church and House of vSvhn ^enek 



'run STORY Ub rillLADELPHIA 



43 



The West Indies Company direclors in a conmmiiication to Sluyvesanl approved of his 
capture of the Swedish forts and settlements on Soiilli Kiver, l)ut expressed their regrets that a 
formal capitulation in writing had taken place, for the nai\e reason "that all which is written and 
copied is too long preserved, and may sometimes, when it is neither desired nor expected, be 
brought forward; whereas, words not recorded are by length of time forgotten, or may be 
explained, construed, or excused, as circumstances may require." This, it is explained, was 
merely a warning for the director-general to act u])()n if similar ()])portunities should later 
present themselves. The expulsion of the Swedes from South Kiver continued, for many years, 
to be a subject of complaint on the part of the crown of Sweden to the States-General of the 
Netherlands. 

After the surrender of {""ort Casimir to the Dutch, 
and before the news had reached Sweden, the ship 
Mercurius, Cai)tain Ilendrick Iluyghen, sailed from 
thence with one hundred and thirty emigrants on 
board. Jacc^uet would not permit them to land, and 
recommended that they should settle in New Amster- 
dam. Captain Iluyghen remonstrated to the Council 
at New Amsterdam that it would be cruel to take these 
people and settle them among people whose language 
they could neither speak nor understand, but the 
Council upheld the ruling of Vice-Director Jacquet, 
and ordered that the crew and passengers of the 
Mercurius should not 1)e landed on the shores of the 
South River, and they also ordered that a man of 
war should be sent to the Delaware to bring the 
Swedish vessel to Manhattan. Meanwhile Captain 
Huyghen had gone overland to New Amsterdam to 
plead the cause of the immigrants in person before 
the Council. While he was gone Johan T'apegoja, 
taking a party of resident Swedes and Indians with 
him, went on board the Mercurius, sailed past Fort 
Casimir in spite of Dutch orders and warning shots 
from the fort, and, on reaching Marcus Hook, landed 
all the passengers. The Dutch did not fire on the ship 
because of the Indians on board, so Papegoja succeeded in his coujx The Dutch were greatly 
incensed at the action of the Swedes, but, as the immigrants had distributed themselves among 
their resident compatriots, the problem of forcing them back on the ship involved more troubles 
than the Dutch cared to shoulder. It was decided that as the captain had taken no part in the 
affair he should be permitted, after paying duties on his cargo, to return to Sweden. One of the 
passengers on the Mercurius was a Swedish clergyman named Mathias, who ministered to the 
colony for two years. 

The smuggling of the Swedish immigrants of the Mercurius into the colony was the only 
strongly recalcitrant act of that busy, friendly and neighborly people. They had left their native 
land to find one where the gates of opportunity swung on easier hinges. They found virgm soil 
and an equable climate to which they brought industry, energy and a cheerful spirit. They won 
the confidence of the Indians to a greater degree than either Dutch or English, and in their 
changes of national allegiance from Swedish to Dutch and from Dutch to English they remamed 
good and loyal citizens. Stuyvesant's favorite project in connection with the Swedes and Finns 




44 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



was to colonize them in reservations away from the river, but he never succeeded in doing it. 
Most of them held on to the land they had settled when the country was called New Sweden. 
A few, who feared that Stuyvesant would eventually succeed in carrying" out his project to 
create a Swedish and Finnish "pale," simply moved over the line into Kent and Cecil counties 
in Maryland. 

In the South River settlements there was, as is natural, some voluntary segregations and 
alignments into communities along racial and linguistic lines. The Swedes and Finns, going 
further up the Delaware River than their original location at Christina, founded the town of 
Upland, now Chester, which became a prominent Swedish settlement; also established groups 
on Tinicum Island, on Cobb's Creek, near the mill, and took up farming lands on creeks flowing 
from the west into the Schulykill. At the same time the Dutch clustered around Fort Casimir, 
creating a town which soon became known as New Amstel (now New Castle, Delaware). This 
New Amstel had its inception in 1656. The Dutch West India Company, being much in debt 
from various causes previous to the expedition organized by Stuyvesant for the capture of South 
River, proposed, after that expedition, to relieve themselves by transferring Fort Casimir and 
some adjoining territory to the City of Amsterdam. The negotiations took a considerable time, 
but on November 4. 1656. the arrangement was effected, the colony was named New Amstel, and 
steps were taken to encourage settlements. It was provided that the city should be governed after 
the Dutch plan, and soon New Amstel was laid out and had its officers — schout, three burgomas- 
ters and five schepens. The colonists were to have transportation from Holland with their 
families, furniture, etc.. in vessels to be procured by the city, which was to advance the freight 
money and to be reimbursed later. Liberal allowance of land, guaranteed by the city of Amster- 
dam to be good and fruitful soil, was made to settlers, in quantity as much as the family could 
improve, the title to be complete if kept under cultivation for two years. There are various pro- 
visions for the proper conduct of the colonists, and for their religious and educational welfare. 
It was also provided that New Amstel should have a garrison of forty soldiers, under command 
of Captain Martin Kregier and Lieutenant d'Hinoyossa. 

The transfer of New Amstel to the city of Amsterdam not only wiped out the debt of the 
province of New Netherland to that municipality, but was believed to be a step toward the more 
effectual settlement of the title of the Dutch to the territory comprised in New Netherland, 
and strengthening the Dutch contention in its conflict with the English claim to all the country 
of America along the coasts from Florida to New France. There w^as, however, a much more 
noble motive back of Amsterdam's acquiescence in the proposed transfer. The persecution of 
the Waldenses by the Duke of Savoy had caused hundreds of those devoted people to flee their 
native land and to take refuge in Amsterdam, where they were permitted to worship (jod under 
the doctrines and in the manner approved by their own consciences. They received a cordial 
reception in Amsterdam, where the city government not only provided them with shelter, but 
also, by liberal appropriations, set apart means for their support. It was from the ranks of these 
pious and grateful Waldenses that the authorities of New Amsterdam found much of the mate- 
rial for the founding and peopling of a colony of its own in New Amsterdam. 

Jacob Alricks, who was sent by the burgomasters of Amsterdam to be the director of their 
colony of New Amstel, embarked on the ship Prince Maurice, which, with the ships Bear, Flower 
of Gelder and Beaver, carried a large number of colonists from Amsterdam to settle in New 
Amstel. The Prince Maurice was unfortunately shipwrecked at Sicktewacky ( near the present 
town of Islip in South Bay, near Fire Island Inlet), on the coast of Long Island. All vessels 
leaving Holland for the South River, or any other point in New Netherland, were required to go 
first to New Amsterdam and there to procure license to continue their journey. Thus it was that 
the Prince Maurice came to disaster in that place. The other vessels had arrived at New 



THE STORY OF rillLAnilLPHlA 



45 



Amsterdam, and Alricks and his companion, bcin<; rescued and taken to Manhattan with as much 
salvage as possible from the cargo, the colonists, with their belongings, were sent forward by 
other vessels to New Amstel. though Alricks, detained by business at Manhattan, did not arrive 
at New^ Amstel until April 21, 1657. 

Protests being made against Jacquct, the vice-director, lirst by Isaac Allerton, (jf New 
Amsterdam, for unlawful seizure of tabacco and later for various nonfeasances and misfeas- 
ances in office, he was removed by an order issued by Director General Stuyvesant on April 20, 
1657. After his discharge various complaints were filed and prosecuted against him. The com- 
pany's effects were turned over to Hudde. Brodhead tells us in his "History of the State of New 
York" that ''during the first few^ months of Alrick's directorship New Amstel prospered." In 
the absence of a clergyman the religious instruction of the colonists was placed in the hands of 
Evert Pietersen. He had come to New Amstel in the Prince Maurice, with Alricks, having, after 
passing a good examination before the Classis in Amsterdam, accompanied the emigrants as 
schoolmaster, and also as Zieken-troster, "to read God's word and to lead in singing." The 
Classis of Amsterdam, however, on March 9, 1657. commissioned Domine Everardus Welius, a 
"young man of much esteem in life, in studies, in gifts and in conversation," to take pastoral 
charge of the congregation at New Amstel. He embarked on the expedition of the man-of-war 
Balance, which, convoying the galliot New Amstel, sailed from Amsterdam for the South River 
with about four hundred new emigrants. On their arrival, x^ugust 21, after a tempestuous voyage, 
a church was organized, of which Alricks and Jean Williams were appointed elders, and Pieter- 
sen, the schoolmaster, "foresinger, Zieken-trooster and deacon," with a colleague. 

Early in 1658 reports reached New Amsterdam of 
smuggling being carried on at New Amstel, and also of a 
feeling which had become common among the colonists 
there that the colonists, because New Amstel belonged to 
the City of Amsterdam, were independent of the West 
India Company and of the provincial authorities in New 
Netherland. The smuggling operations affected the revenue 
disastrously, and also the trade of regular dealers. There 
was also a feeling of distrust of the Swedish residents 
of the region, and other troubles and irregularities were 
reported to New Amsterdam. Governor Stuyvesant. there- 
fore, visited the South River, disembarking at Altona, in 
order to personally arrange affairs in that region. The 
Swedes were required to swear a new oath of allegiance. 
At their request, however, they were granted exemption 
from taking sides if trouble should arise between Sweden 
and the Netherlands. The country was divided into court 
jurisdictions, and the Sw'edes had a measure of self- 
government on Tinicum Island, where their council met, 
and where Sven Skute was elected captain ; Anders Dalbo. 
lieutenant; Jacob Sw-enson. ensign; Cregoruis van Dyck, 
sheriff, and Olof Stille, Matts Hanson, Peter Rambo and 
Peter Cock magistrates. 

Early in 1658 several shipwrecked Englishmen from Virginia, whom \'ice-Director Alricks 
had ransomed from the Indians, became residents of New Amstel. but the Dutch West India 
directors, Vv'ho had been greatly alarmed over the aggressions of the English in the northern part 
of New Netherland, and especially in the West Chester and Long Island regions, were fearful of 




46 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




THE STORY OU ril I LADllLPHIA 47 

similar aggressions from Maryland and X'irginia, expecting a hostile intrusicjn by the way of 
Cape Henlopcn. They therefore recommended to Alricks, in a communication dated May 28, 
1658, that he should "disentangle himself in the best manner possible, from the Englishmen 
whom he had allowed to settle at New Amstel, and at all e\ents, not to admit any English beside 
them in that vicinity, much less to allure them by any means whatever." On June 7, 1658, fol- 
lowing up this subject, Stuyvesant received from the West India (hrectors instructions to purchase 
from the Indians the tract between Cape lienlopen and Bompje's I Took, so that it might after- 
ward be conveyed to the commissaries of the City of Amsterdam. 

Poor crops in 1658, caused by too much rain, made the colony want for food. An epidemic 
of fever broke out, the barber-surgeon and many children died, and most of the more recently 
landed colonists were suffering from a climate to which they had not yet become accustomed. 
While the disease yet raged the ship Mill arrived from Holland after a long voyage and eleven 
deaths from scurvy, bringing more than two hundred souls, among whom were several children 
from the Orphan Asylum in Amsterdam. The j)opulation of New Amstel, counted in October, 
was more than six hundred, but its inhabitants were reported to be "without bread," and the ship 
which had brought the new emigrants had brought no supply of provisions. Abraham Rynvelt, 
commissary at New Amstel, died of the prevailing fever on October 28, 1658, and Alricks' wife 
fell a victim to it in January, 1659. 

In October William Beeckman w^as appointed commissary and vice-director for the West 
India Company at Fort Altena (wdiich name had been given by the Dutch to Fort Christina). He 
was invested with the highest authority over the company's affairs on the South River, except in 
the district of New Amstel. He was to have supervision over the Swedes, was to act as customs 
officer and auditor in the country, and was required to be present at New Amstel when ships 
arrived there or wdien his other duties required his presence at that place. This appointment had 
been agreed upon at a meeting of the Director-General and Council of New Netherland on July 
30, 1658. William Beeckman is referred to, in the notice of his appointment to this office, as a 
schepen (magistrate) of the City of New Amsterdam, and as "an expert and respectable person." 
It appears he was an elder in the Reformed Dutch Church at New Amsterdam. He had the full 
confidence of Stuyvesant and of the directors in Amsterdam, who wrote on February 13, 1659, 
to Stuyvesant that he must "admonish Alricks, from time to time, of his duty, and particularly to 
assist William Beeckman, who is now^ continued custom-house officer and auditor in the colony 
of the city on South River." In the same communication the directors of the West India Com- 
pany express their aj>proval of all the orders that had been made by Stuyvesant on the South 
River with the exception of the appointment of Swedish officers and the insertion in the oath of 
allegiance taken by the Swedes of the provision that they might remain neutral in case of a war 
between Sweden and Holland. He is ordered by degrees to supplant the Swedish by Dutch 
officers, and in case of disaffection to take hold of the first favorable opportunity to disarm them. 

In 1659 news came to New^ Amstel of various alterations which had been made by the burgo- 
masters of Amsterdam in the conditions upon which the colonists had agreed to emigrate— abro- 
gating exemptions, or reducing the time for which they were to be in effect ; enactmg that all 
exports must be consigned exclusively to the city of .Amsterdam, whereas the West India Com- 
pany had allowed traders to export wherever they ]ileased. except beavers and peltry. There was 
deep discontent for the people of New Amstel, who, between poor crops and severe sickness, 
had become impoverished, and many were suffering for lack of the bare necessaries of life. 
Some who had saved enough to get away offered the money to Alricks. begging him to take it in 
payment of their debts, but he was adamant. They must stay their full four years, and they 
must pay up in full. Many, therefore, fled to Maryland and X'irginia, where they spread the news 
of the weak and desperate condition of New Amstel. Later in the year Stuyvesant wrote to the 



48 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



West India Company in Amsterdam detailing the ruinous state of New Amstel, giving as a 
reason "the too great preciseness of honorable Alricks." The falling off in population of the 
colony, the restrictions on trade and the scarcity of provisions made New Amstel a demoralized 
place, and, added to that were not only the rumors, which had been more or less insistent for 
several years, of the intentions of the English to take possession of the settlement, but actual 
demands from the government of Maryland, of which Lord Baltimore was the Lord Proprietor. 

Lord Baltimore had directed Governor Fendall. of Maryland, to reduce to possession all 
those settlements between the thirty-eighth and fortieth degrees of north latitude, and in 1659 
Colonel Nathaniel Utie was directed to go to "the pretended governor of a people seated on Dela- 
ware Bay. within His Lordship's province" and require him to depart thence. Utie's instructions 
also advised him that as he found opportunity he should "insinuate into the people there seated, 
that in case they make their applications to His Lordship's governor here, they shall find good 
conditions." Arriving at New Amstel, Colonel Utie made his demands in no gentle terms, 
first to Alricks and later to Beeckman, warning them to leave at once if they would escape dire 
calamity. Finally he agreed that they might have three weeks in which to hear from Stuyvesant. 
At the end of that time he warned them they must either move away from the Delaware county 
or submit themselves to Lord Baltimore. Two days later Utie. with his suite of six persons, 
returned to Maryland. Rumors soon spread that five hundred men were to march on the South 
River settlements, and messengers were sent with a letter from Beeckman. dated September 2\, 
1659, to Stuyvesant, to ask for large reinforcements. "It seems to me," Beeckman wrote, "that 
Alricks and Hinoyossa are much perplexed, and full of fear with respect to the English coming 
from Maryland, which I cannot believe." 

Although when this letter reached Stuyvesant two days later he was already badly embar- 
rassed by the arrangements for quelling an outbreak of Indians which had occurred just before, 
he at once dispatched a force of sixty soldiers under command of Captain Martin Cregier, who. with 
Secretary Van Ruyven, was commissioned to act as general agent for the service of the com- 
pany; at the same time Stuyvesant wrote, roundly censuring Alricks and Beeckman for want of 
prudence and courage in their whole conduct toward Colonel Utie. To turn a weak defensive 
into an aggressive form of diplomatic intercourse, Stuyvesant commissioned Augustine Heer- 
mans and Resolved Waldron (under-schout of New Amsterdam) as an embassy to the govern- 
ment of Maryland. They proved to be vigorous and plain-spoken envoys. They were surprised 
at the audacity of the claims of the Maryland authorities. For instance. Secretary Calvert, who 
invited them to dinner, claimed that Maryland extended to the limits of New England. "Where, 
then, would remain New Netherland?" asked the envoys, to which question, with provoking 
calmness, Calvert replied, "I do not know." 

About a week after their arrival at Patuxent, then the seat of the Maryland government, 
the envoys presented and delivered a "declaration and manifesto" on behalf of the government 
of New Netherland, setting forth the Dutch title to the South River, and followed it by an able 
oral argument. The next day, when Lord Baltimore's patent was exhibited, the Dutch envoys 
made a strong argument against its validity so far as jurisdiction over South River was con- 
cerned. Governor Fendall then asked the Dutch to produce th^ir patent for New Netherland, 
but the envoys claimed that they had not come for that purpose, but to arrange for a future 
meeting between the parties. The Governor and his Council then replied to Stuyvesant's letter, 
justifying Utie's proceedings on the Delaware and declaring that the colonists settled there were 
intruders. Maryland surveyors thereafter went into the region surveying land to within one or 
two miles of Fort Amstel. Stuyvesant kept the directors of the Dutch West India Company 
fully informed about the conditions north and south, and they instructed him to keep the English 
out of the province. 



THE SrORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



49 



t)n December 30, 1659, Jacob Ah-icks, direclur of New Anislel, died, alter having placed llie 
government in the hands of Alexander d'Hinoyossa. The latter's continuance in office was short, 
but very disturbing to good order ; very high-handed with subordinate officers and citizens, but 
his appointment was ratified by the burgomasters at Amsterdam, following which his arrogance 
increased. He several times declared he would obey no orders but those of the municipality of 
Amsterdam, and denounced Stuyvesant and the West India Company, and Beeckman charged 
him with many unjust and fraudulent proceedings, lie would not co-operate with Beeckman, 
and the latter's letters to Stuyvesant during this period were pessimistic. Things became badly 
confused; the divided allegiance on the Delaware ]»reveiUc'(l united action in behalf r)f defense 
Alcxaiuler d'liinovossa went lo Aiiislcrdani. \ia N'ir^inia. rmd negotiations 



>'()()(1 order 




Drawing of the Bluk Anchor Inn 

between the Dutch West India Company and the City of Amsterdam in September, 1663, resulted 
in the transfer of the company's jurisdiction over the river to the City of Amsterdam. D'Hmo- 
yossa, returning, made new regulations for the trade and government of the region. One which 
caused some stir was the prohibition of distilling and brewing in the colony, even for domestic 
use. This regulation to include the Swedes, as well as the Dutch. 

The year 1664 opened with this government in operation. The settlers had long feared 
molestation from the English colonies south of them. But, as the event proved, the disaster 
which came to the South River settlers came not from Maryland or Virginia, but from England. 
For the Stuarts had come back and brought in their train a hungry crowd of retainers. To these 
everything in Britain that could be given away by Qiarles had been distributed, but some cour- 
tiers had not been provided for. There was not enough to go round, and these hungry ones must 
be fed. Besides these who were entirely hungry, there were others who, being prime favorites 



50 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



with the kino;, had received Hberally^ but were greedy for more. Greediest and most insistent 
among these avid ones was His Royal Highness Prince James, Duke of York and Albany, brother 
and heir presumptive to His Majesty Charles II. He had a greater influence over his brother than 
any other human being, unless it may have been the day's favorite among the light-o'-love 
women who infested the court of the Merry Monarch. 

Because England had been milked dry of easily bestowed favors for his courtiers, Charles 
became suddenly interested in the rights of the British crown in North America. Did not the 
Cabots discover its coast line while flying the British flag? Between New France and Florida the 
only power to dispute England's title to the region was that of The Netherlands. The Dutch 
must therefore be dispossessed, and so King Charles, as a step toward that end, made a grant, 
dated March 22. 1664, by which he gives his "dearest brother James" all the land from St. Croix, 
"next adjoining to New Scotland in America and along the whole coast to and including the east 
side of Delaware Bay and up all the rivers from the 'Pemoquid' to the Delaware" — in other words, 
all of New England, New Netherland and a part of Maryland, with "full and absolute power and 
authority to correct, punish, pardon, govern and rule all such subjects of his Majesty as may be in 
all that region." ( 

The Duke of York, thus vested with title to this vast territory, was endowed wuth especially 
complete facilities for turning his title into possession. Among the other posts, gifts ^md honors 
which Charles H had lavished upon his "dearest brother James" was the post of Lord High 
Admiral of England. In that capacity he directed the fleet. Four ships, the Guinea, of thirty-six 
guns ; the Elias, of thirty ; the Martin, of sixteen, and the William and Nicholas, of ten, were 
detached for service against New Netherland, and about four hundred and fifty regular soldiers, 
with their officers, were embarked. The command of the expedition was entrusted to Colonel 
Richard Nicolls, a faithful Royalist, who had served with James under Turenne, and was attached 
to the royal court. He also carried a commission as deputy-governor, under the duke, to take 
the Dutch capitulation and govern the colony. Associated with Colonel Nicolls were Sir Robert 
Carr, Colonel George Cartwright and Samuel Maverick, appointed on May 5, 1664, as royal com- 
missioners to visit the several colonies of New England. A month after the departure of the 
squadron the Duke of York conveyed to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret all the territory 
between the Hudson and Delaware rivers, from Cape May north to forty-one degrees and forty 
minutes of latitude, and thence to the Hudson, in forty-one degrees of latitude "hereafter to be 
called by the name or names of Nova Caesarei, or New Jersey." 

Captain Thomas Willett, an Englishman who had taken a hand (rather disastrously as it 
happens) in negotiations wnth the New England governments on behalf of Director-General 
Stuyvesant, informed the latter of the fact that such a naval expedition had started. The 
burgomasters and schepens of New Amsterdam were summoned by Stuyvesant to meet the 
Council and aid by their advice. Military preparations were started, guards were organized, and 
it was resolved by the Council that skippers should be duly warned. The powder supply at 
Fort Amsterdam was very low, and orders for a shipment were sent to Fort Amstel. A loan of 
five thousand or six thousand guilders was asked from Renssalaerswyck, agents were sent to 
purchase provisions from New Haven, and spies were sent to obtain information at West Chester 
and Milford, the report brought by Willett indicating that the British fleet was to approach New 
Amsterdam via Long Island Sound. There were some ships in the harbor about to weigh anchor 
for Curacoa. and these were warned to stay in port. What New Amsterdam was able to do in 
the way of preparedness was not much, but it was being done with a commendable degree of 
alacrity when a dispatch from the directors of the Dutch West India Company arrived. The 
directors, evidently misled by their London correspondents, told Stuyvesant that an expedition of 
warships had started for America, but it need give New Netherland no alarm, because its objective 



THE STORY OF I'll I L.IDELPHIA 



was Ur' Kiiii^'s colonies, where ii was delennined lo establish Jii}isco])acy and rej^ulate some of 
the King's affairs in that reg-ion which had not been administered to his liking. Lulled by this 
dispatch into a false position of security, the Council felt that Willett was responsible for a 
false alarm. In view of the news from Holland, Willett admitted that his own informants 
might have been and probably were mistaken. The precautions were all relaxed, guards called 
off and the Curacoa-bound ships advised to set sail. As there were matters of importance pending 
at Fort Orange in connection with an endeavor to make a peace between the settlers and the 
Mohawks, Stuyvesant was urgently advised to go to that place, which seemed to the Council, in 
\iew of the. dispatch from the com])any, the most urgent matter for ])ublic attention. 

The English squadron had separated in a fog and its plan to meet at Gardiner's Island 
proved impracticable. The Guinea, with Nicolls and Cartwright on board, making Cape Cod, 
went on to Boston. The other ships ]nit in at Piscataway. The Commissioners, who carried with 
them letters from the King recjuiring the New England governments "to join and assist them 
vigorously" in reducing the Dutch to subjection, immediately upon their arrival demanded the 
assistance of Massachusetts. But the people of the Bay colony largely felt that the success of 
the King against the Dutch might induce him to take similar measures against his enemies in 
New- England. So the Commissioners received excuses, in the place of help, from the people 
of Boston and the government authorities there. They found Connecticut more tractable, for 
the Connecticut authorities had a conflict of many years' standing about boundaries and juris- 
diction with the Dutch. 




Emigrants Landing 
News of these negotiations reached New Amsterdam. Willet's warnings proved to have 
been soundly based. The Council sent post-haste to Fort Orange for Stuyvesant, who responded 
promptly, arriving in New Amsterdam August 25. Three precious weeks had been wasted. The 
preparations were feverishly resumed, and one-third of the inhabitants w^ere ordered, without 
exception, to labor on the fortifications. But when all was done the defenses were so manifestly 
inefficient that when the British fleet sailed into the Narrows the larger part of the population 
of New Amsterdam was manifestly in favor of surrender to the British if anything like liberal 
terms could be secured. The walls of the fort had been repaired, and Stuyvesant called upon the 
men of the city to come and man it, but they would not respond. The Director-General sent a 
delegation to Colonel Nicolls to argue with him the strength of the Dutch claim to the country, 
but on x^ugust 30 he replied that he would not argue over questions of title, but carry out the 
orders of the King and the Duke of York. The place must surrender without debate, or be 
bombarded. He had sent a letter to Stuyvesant on the 25th, oft'ering that the people should keep 
all their property and activities without molestation, provided that they should acknowledge the 
British authority and permit his troops to take peaceful possession of the place. 



32 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Stuyvcsant for several days suppressed this note, rightly judging the temper of the people 
and karing that if the mildness of the terms were known they would be clamoring for the 
chance to Surrender. But it was noised abroad that Stuyvesant had received a letter from Sir 
Francis, and the people assembled, demanding to know the terms they had to meet to secure 
peace Stuyvesant held out until on September 9. after a tempestuous town meeting, which over- 
whelmingly counseled surrender, the Director-General sent notice to Colonel Nicolls that his 
demands'" would be met. So New Amsterdam, on September 9, 1664, was surrendered to the 
English, the Dutch marching out of their fort with their arms, their colors flying and their drums 
beadng.' They received the most liberal treatment, and business was resumed on a peace basis in 
the city. With the capitulation both province and city took the name of New York. 

After matters in New York city were composed, an expedition under Colonel Cartwright 
was sent up the river ,the name of which was changed to the Hudson, and received the submis- 
sion of Esopus, Fort Orange (the name of which he changed to Albany), and Renssalaerswyck, 
which was accomplished without any opposition. Sir Robert Carr was commissioned to go to 
Delaware Bay and River and to reduce the settlements there to submission to the British Crown. 
He went thither with the frigates Guinea and William and Nicholas, with a sufficient force of 
troops for the purpose. Carr was instructed to offer to the planters on the Delaware, whether 
Dutch or Swedes, on their quiet submission, the peaceable possession of their property, on the 
same terms as they had previously held it; also liberty of conscience and freedom of trade 
according to the acts of Parliament. The magistrates in office were not to be changed for six 
months ("they taking the oath of allegiance and their acts to be in His Majesty's name), nor were 
the laws of the place to be altered for the present. On October 1. 1664, the burgomaster of 
New Amstel signed a treaty of capitulation, but the governor, D'Hinoyossa, Peter Alricks and 
Gerrit \'an Sweringen. the schout, went into the fort with their handful of troops and refused 
to surrender it. Therefore the English troops were landed, the two frigates were removed to a 
convenient place before the fort, at which they fired two broadsides, disabling the fort and making 
it no longer tenable. The Dutch in the fort were compelled to surrender it. three of their 
number being killed and ten wounded, according to Sir Robert Carr's account. After storming 
the fort, the soldiers and sailors looted the town and did much damage. Some accounts say 
that Sir Robert Carr sent some of the Dutch from New Amstel to be sold for slaves in Virginia. 
Carr's own report tells of having sent into Maryland "some negroes which did belong to the late 
governor," in exchange for beef, pork and salt. 

In November Governor Nicolls went to the Delaware under a resolution of the Duke's 
Commission asking him to go there to take special care for the good government of that place. 
He therefore spent several days in the early part of that month at New Amstel, the name of 
which he changed to Newcastle. Sir Robert Carr's relative. Captain Carr, who commanded the 
frigate Guinea, was richly rewarded for his share in reducing the fort, being granted, June 30, 
1665, all the lands, houses and estates of Gerrit Van Sweringen, which had been confiscated 
because of his "hostihty against His Majesty during the siege." At the same time and for the 
same reason the estate of Peter Alricks was confiscated and conferred on William Tom for his 
good services at Delaware. This William Tom was appointed commissary at Delaware until 
August 27, 1668, when he was discharged on his own request. 

Governor Nicolls was zealous and courteous. He gained the personal respect of the Dutch 
colonists, but some of his acts did not meet the approval of the burghers. These acts, however, 
were due not to his own views, but to the limitations of the private instructions from the Duke 
of York and Albany, the royal proprietor of the colony. Nicolls prepared a code of laws which 
he tried to conform to the instructions of the duke, but at the same time to be as just and liberal 
as was possil)le in view of the ducal limitations. This code, known as the Duke's Laws, guaran- 



THE STORY OF PI 1 1 LAni'.LPl U A 



53 



teed perfect liberty of conscience in relis^^ion ; established a Court of Assize in New York city; 
trials were to be by jury of the vicinage; taxes to be evenly distributed according to property 
owned ; to make titles secure they must be recorded in New York. He consolidated all of M.^n- 
hattan Island into one city of New York, and appointed Thomas Willett as the first mayor of 
the city. 

The grant of New Jersey to Berkeley and Carteret gave great chagrin to Covernor Nicolls, 
who wrote to the duke and later to Lord Arlington, Secretary of State of Great Britain, pro- 
testing against the mutilation of the province. If the grant had gone too far to be rescinded, 
he suggested that modification should be made so that New York should include both sides of 
the Hudson River, and that compensation should be given to Berkeley and Carteret by giving 
them the land on both sides of the Delaware River. But although James indicated his approval 
of the idea, he never did anything toward putting it into practical operation. The Delaware 







-rcrrDfiei: 







SEAL AND .SIGNATURES TO FRAME OF GOVERX.MKNT. 



settlements were placed in a peculiar position. Governor Nicolls had decided very emphatically 
that the region was not a part of Maryland, and was included in the grant made by Charles \\ 
to his brother. The Delaware settlements, therefore, were and long remained an inconvenient 
appendage to New York. By an order of Nicolls, made April 21, 1668, the government of Dela- 
ware territory was regulated more clearly. Captain John Carr was to remain as commander-in- 
chief at Newcastle, assisted by Alricks and others as counselors, and the "Duke's Laws" as 
compiled and promulgated by Nicolls for New York, were ordered to be published and observed 
at the Delaware also. In all cases of difficulty the directions of the governor and Council at New 
York were to be sought and followed. 

The declaration of war against Holland by Charles H in March, 1665, made the task of Gov- 
ernor Nicolls with the Dutch more difficult. He was not unaware of his personal popularity with 
the burghers, but he was under no illusions that such popularity was strong enough to overcome 
the loyalty of spirit of the Netherlanders to their fatherland. The active operations of that war 
began with the English naval victory over the Dutch in the battle oflf Lowestoft on the Sussex 
coast of the North Sea. France declared war against England, but withdrew participation as the 



54 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



result 01 diplomatic advantai,^es gained by Louis Quatorze. of France, through a secret treaty 
between Britain and France in the spring of 1666. Meanwhile, -the defeat at Lowestoft having 
spurred the Dutch to heroic work in the rehabilitation of its navy, greatly strengthened its power 
during the period when the depletion of resources and practical exhaustion of the treasury of 
Great Britain by the visitation of the great plague of 1665, and the great fire of London in 1666, 
had reduced the vitality of the English to a low ebb. The negotiations for peace were pending 
at Breda in the spring of 1667 when De Ruyter, taking a fleet into the Medway, destroyed the 
king's shipyards, and blockading the mouth of the Thames, destroyed many British vessels. 
The Dutch victory was complete under conditions of which the English long felt the disgrace. 

The treaty of Breda, finally signed July 21, 1667, gave the Netherlands much the best of the 
bargain. Under it the two countries were each to keep the territories of which it held possession 
on May 10, 1667. That gave the provinces of New York and New Jersey (formerly New Neth- 
erland) to the English, but to the Dutch the much more valuable possessions (as then appraised) 
of the spice island of Pularoon in the East Indies, of the islands of Tobago in the West Indies and 
of Surinam in Guiana. During the war Governor Nicolls was in constant expectation of an 
attack by a Dutch squadron, and was engaged in preparedness work without outside assistance, 
for neither supplies nor soldiers came from England. Before the war he had asked to be relieved 
of his office, which placed heavy cares and responsibilities upon him. In the absence of supplies 
and help from England he spent all of his own money and stretched his credit in New York and 
Boston to the limit. Yet when official proclamation of peace was made on New Year's Day, 1668, 
in front of the Stadt Haus in New York, the joy over the news was dampened both for the 
Dutch and English residents when Governor Nicolls announced that his term as governor would 
soon end. 

His successor was Colonel Francis Lovelace, who arrived in New York in May, 1668. He 
was a courtier in high favor with the king, and secured the place because the king wished to 
give him a chance to retrieve his fortunes, which were at low ebb. He had no such high ideals 
as those of Colonel Nicolls, but he had a friendly disposition, and finding how personally pop- 
ular his predecessor had been, patterned after him as nearly as he could. His administration was 
early devoted to the work of validating the old land patents issued by the Dutch government 
and to the issuing of new patents to the later settlers entitled to them. There was considerable 
dissatisfaction in New York because of the restrictions of the "Duke's Laws," which were partic- 
ularly irksome to the English residents, most of whom had come to New York from New 
England, where the democratic "town meeting" gave every citizen a voice in public affairs, but a 
still more serious trouble was the falling off of commerce due to the restrictions of the English 
navigation laws, which was felt in ecjual degree on the Delaware and on the Hudson. 

A disaffection local to the Delaware region appeared among the people, more especially the 
Swedes and Finns, in 1669. Marcus Jacobsen, a Swede, who falsely pretended to be a son of the 
famous Swedish Count Konigsmark, but was popularly known as "the Long Swede," went about 
making seditious speeches, and, aided by Henry Coleman, a Finn, tried to incite an insurrection 
against English authority. Lovelace ordered the arrest of the ringleaders, and Jacobsen was 
soon taken, tried and carried to New York. It was decided that he merited death, but he was 
sentenced to the not much more lenient alternative of being whipped, branded on the forehead 
with the letter "R" and shipped to Barbadoes, where he was sold as a slave. Coleman escaped and 
lived with the Indians for several years, afterward becoming a property owner in Delaware. 
Armigart Pappgoya, daughter of the former Swedish Governor Printz. was said to have given 
some indiscreet encouragement to the Long Swede's insurrectionary propaganda, but whatever 
activity she may have exercised in this affair was blinked at by the authorities. 

In 1669 also there was some trouble with the Maryland government. William Tom, who 
was commissary at Newcastle, and had also been appointed collector, was put in charge of the 



THE STORY OF PI / 1 L.lPT.LPfUA 



execution of (jovernor Lovelace's order that all the inhabitants of the Delaware should take out 
new patents from himself. Several families from Maryland had been encouraged to settle on the 
creek near Apoquinimy. This excited the jealousy of the Maryland authorities, and White, the 
surveyor-general of Maryland, went to Newcastle and laid claim to all the region west of the 
Delaware River as belonging to Lord Baltimore. Maryland also sent persons to exercise juris- 
diction at the Hoarkill, but none of the inhabitants would submit to their authority uptjl the 
matter should be decided in England. At that time it was exi)ected that the recommendation 
which had been made by Governor Nicolls, that the region west of the Delaware should be given 
to Berkeley' and Carteret in exchange for northern New Jersey, would soon be decided. There- 
fore Governor Lovelace forwarded to the Duke of York the claim made by White in behalf of 
Lord Baltimore. 

The question recurred again in July, 1672, when a party of Marylanders came to the Hoarkill 
and, assisted by Daniel Brown, a planter, assaulted the magistrates and carried off all the plunder 
they could. Brown was afterward arrested and taken to New York, where he w^as tried and 
convicted, but was released on promise of future good behavior. Lovelace rebuked Calvert, sec- 
retary of Maryland, for thus allowing the people of his province to commit, a second time, such 




Landing of Penn at Chester 

outrages in the Duke's dominions, and also advised the Duke of York of the illegal acts of Lord 
Baltimore's agents. The vigor of Lovelace's actions in this matter is credited with having accom- 
plished the salvation of Delaware from "the imminent peril of being absorbed in Maryland." 

In June, 1672, the English Quaker. (leorge Fox. visited America, and in August of that year 
visited Newcastle, where he was entertained in Captain Carr's own house. He held on that 
visit in Newcastle the first Quaker meeting ever held in Delaware, .\migart Paj^pegoia, daughter 
of former Governor Printz, brought a suit in ejectment against Andrew Carr. a relative of Sir 
Robert Carr, to recover her patrimonial estate in the island of Tiiiicum in Delaware. The case 
was appealed from the court in Delaware to that in New York, where the jury gave a verdict 
to the plaintitT and judgment was rendered in her favor. 

War between England and the Netherlands began again in 1672. and Governor Lovelace 
received a warning from London to put the ]M-ovince of New York in a state etifective for its 
defense. After that rumors followed one another in rapid succession that the Dutch were on 
their way to New^ York, and became so frequent that Governor Lovelace became more and 
more skeptical about them. In March. 1673, when he was on his way to Westchester on a business 
errand, he was recalled by an urgent message from Captain John Manning, in charge of the gar- 
rison at New York, telling him that the Dutch were coming. It proved to be a premature 
report, though the Governor found the English residents of New York in panicky mood. He 



56 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



joked the captain of the fort, but to satisfy the fears of the citizens sent orders for the garri- 
sons up the Hudson and on the Delaware to come to New York and reinforce the troops at 

Fort lames. 

In July (old style) Governor Lovelace went to New Haven to confer with Governor 
Winthrop and was away when, on August 9. 1673 (new style), a Dutch fleet of twenty-one sail 
stood in the bay. The fleet included men-of-war under command of Admiral Cornelis Evertsen, 
the younger son of the Admiral Cornelis Evertsen. who lost his life in battle in 1666, and of 
Captain lacob Benckes, who had started from Holland with four ships and had joined Evertsen's 
squadron in the West Indies. Included in the twenty-one ships were twelve prize ships which 
had been captured in West Indian and Virginian waters. The fleet carried sixteen hundred 
soldiers and seamen, and also one hundred and fifty marines, the latter in command of Captain 
Anthony Colve. Evertsen and Benckes sent messengers demanding the surrendey." of the fort and 
promising good quarters to Captain Manning. These messengers passed a boat which had been 
sent to the fleet demanding why these ships had come in such menacing manner to disturb His 
Majesty's subjects. Captain Manning therefore replied to the Dutch demand that he had sent 
messengers to communicate with the fleet, and upon their return he would give a definite answer 
to the summons. Thereupon the ships drew nearer and anchored opposite the fort. Word was 
sent to Manning giving him half an hour to answer the Dutch demand. Manning sent back, 
asking time until the following morning at 10 o'clock. The reply was that only half an hour 
would be given, and that the hour-glass would be immediately turned up. 

When the specified time expired without word from the fort a heavy cannonading against 
it was begun, and several men were killed and others wounded. Soon after the Dutch landed six 
hundred men. under command of Captain Anthony Colve, and he marched toward the fort, 
sending a trumpeter to ask whether it would surrender. Manning sent Captain Carr, of the Dela- 
ware, and two other messengers under indefinite instructions to make the best terms they 
could, and Colve. holding two of the messengers as prisoners, sent Carr to inform Manning 
that he could have fifteen minutes to make definite proposals. Captain Carr. instead of carrying 
the message, rode out of the city and made his escape. Incensed by the apparent indifiference 
at the fort. Captain Colve resumed the march, but was met by an officer who oft'ered to surrender 
the fort, with all military arms and ammunition, on condition that officers and men should be 
permitted to march out with their arms, drums beating, colors flying, bag and baggage, without 
hindrance or molestation. Thus New York province became New Netlierland again, the name 
of the city being changed to New Orange. The fleet commanders appointed Captain Anthony 
Colve as, governor, and getting nominations from the existing council, appointed a full set of 
new officers for the city, all Netherlanders. 

One of the first official acts of Governor Colve was to commission Peter Alricks as com- 
mander and schout "on the South River in New Netherland," where he was to maintain the 
Established Dutch Church, to keep his soldiers in discipline, the Indians in good temper and to 
obey all orders from New Orange. Walter Wharton was also commissioned to be surveyor of 
all the Dutch territory on the South River. At New Orange on September 12, 1673, deputies from 
the South River were promised, by Governor Colve and his council, freedom of trade and com- 
merce and equal privileges to all the inhabitants who should take the oath of allegiance. 
Courts of justice were also established at New Amstel (Newcastle), Upland and the Hoarkill, and 
the usual nominations of magistrates were ordced to be sent by the schout, Peter Alricks, to 
New Orange for approval. 

Throughout the settlements on the Delaware the instructions from the provincial governor 
and council were readily enforced by Schout Alricks, and magistrates were established at the 
Hoarkill. Captain John Carr, who had gone to Maryland, was by decree of the council ordered 



THE STORY OF Til I f..l nh.l.l'l 11 ,1 



57 



to settle himself in New Netherland if he took the oath of allegiance, but if he refused his 
estate was to be seized. As several Marylanders had lately committed aggressions on the Dela- 
ware settlers, Colve invited the sufferers to New Orange, and directed all the inhabitants to 
obey the orders of Alricks. 

Governor Colve gave the whole of New Netherland a creditable administration, but the 
Treaty of Westminster, of peace be;tween England and Holland, entered into February 9, 1674, 
restored the country to England. The Dutch remained in office, however, until November 10 
following. There being some question as to whether the capture of the country by the Dutch 
extinguished the proprietary title of the Duke of York, he secured from King Charles II a con- 
firmation of his former title to the country. Then the Duke appointed Major Sir Edmund Andros 
as governor of the province of New York, which remained English for the remainder of its 
colonial history. Dutch dominion was thus finally extinguished on the Delaware, as on the 
Hudson. 




Pegg's Run, Northkkn Liberties 



C H 



A 



E R 



F 



U R 



UNDER BRITISH RULE— WILLIAM PENN BECOMES 
INTERESTED IN LANDS ON THE DELAWARE 



The arrival of Sir Edmund Andros, November 1. 1674, brought back to the residents on the 
Delaware the English Government, practically unaltered, as it had existed when the Dutch took 
possession in July, 1673. All of the officers who had been in commission at that date were recom- 
missioned, except Peter Abricks, the exception being made in this case because, it was officially 

stated, "he proffered himself to the Dutch at 
their first coming, of his own motion, and 
acted very violently as their chief officer." 

Captain Cantwell, sheriff, and William 
Tom, clerk of the town of New Castle, were 
commissioned to take possession of the Fort 
and all public property, and to take measures 
for the repossession and settling of any of 
His Majesty's subjects in their just rights, 
and to maintain kindly relations with neigh- 
boring colonies. 

In 1664 Sig George Carteret and Lord 
John Berkeley had been given the country 
between the Eludson and the Delaware 
which, it was stipulated in the grant, should 
be known by the name of Nova Caesarea. or 
New Jersey. Philip Carteret, a distant rela- 
tive of Sir George, was commissioned as 
governor of New Jersey, and, arriving in 
April, 1665, established the seat of his gov- 
ernment at Elizabethport. Rules and regula- 
tions governing the, distribution of lands to 
colonists were promulgated, and several 
grants were made to settlers. The Dutch 
concjuests and occupancy stopped all progress 
along this line until the return of the English. 
A little before the Dutch concjuest of the 
country, on March 18, 1673 (O. S.) Berkeley 
sold all his right in New Jersey to John 
Fenwick, as trustee for Edward Byllynge. John Fenwick had been a major in the Parliamentary 
Army, but had become a devoted member of the Society of Friends. 

After this transfer by Lord Berkeley, the D.ike of York, desiring to give more definite form 
to Carteret's title, and to lay a basis for the partition of New Jersey between him and the 
assignees of Lord Berkeley, gave him on July 28, 1674, a new grant, comprising the eastern half 
of the province, to be his property in severalty, delimiting this new grant so as to make it com- 
prise a line drawn from a certain creek called Barnegat, to a certain creek in Delaware River, 
next to and below a certain creek in Delaware River called Renkokus Kill — a stream south of 
Burlington. 




Tim STORY oj' i'iiii..]nr.i.rniA 



59 



The settlements made in New Jersey under the original grant made by the Duke of York to 
Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, had all been within the bounds later segregated as those 
of East Jersey. The boundaries named in the individual grant to Carteret in July, 1674, gave 
him an excessive share. Meanwhile, the other half, which had been Lord Berkeley's, became a 
subject of dispute between Edward Byllynge and John Fenwick, his trustee. Both of these men 
were members of the Society of Friends, and for the adjustment of their dififerences they re- 
ferred them to William Penn, who, though he had only recently joined the Society, had estab- 
lished for himself a reputation for absolute fairness. Penn, as arbitrator, awarded a certain sum 
of money and a one-tenth interest in the grant to Fenwick. Soon afterward Byllynge became 
submerged in financial difficulties, and on February 10, 1674, he assigned his nine-tenths 
interests in trust for the benefit of creditors to William Penn. Gawen Lawry and Nicholas Lucas, 
also members of the Society of Friends. 

John Fenwick, on the strength of his one-tenth interest in the property which had been alien- 
ated by Lord Berkeley, came to America, arriving in June, 1675, on the ship Griffin, bringing 
with him his children, relatives, settlers and servants. He landed at a place in the Delaware 
river, the aspect of which was so placid and benign that it suggested to his Quaker mind the 
name "Salem" (Peace), which it has been called to this day. He began the work of surveying and 
dividing the land into plots, with the design to found a colony of Friends thereabout, but was 
hampered by the persecution of Governor Andros, was held in arrest during December, 1676, and, 
while released on bail, was subjected to various annoyances, until he sold his interest in the Salem 
Colony. 

The involvements and complications of the title, due to the excessive character of the 
separate grant to Sir George Carteret, led to an attempt at adjustment by means of what is 
known as "the Quintipartite 
Deed," which defined the in- 
terests of Sir George Car- 
teret, for himself ; and of 
"WilHam Penn, of Rick- 
mansworth ; Gawen Lawry, 
of London, merchant ; Nich- 
olas Lucas, of Hertford, 
Maltster; and Edward Byl- 
lynge, of Westminster, gen- 
tleman." . The line of parti- 
tion, which in subsequent 
boundary disputes was 
known as the Providence 
line, extended from Little 
Egg Harbor to 41° 40' north 
latitude to the Delaware 
River. East New Jersey 
was awarded to Carteret and 
West New Jersey to Penn 
and his associates. The col- 
onization of West New Jer- 
sey, under a liberal form of government, framed under a document of liberty, known as " Ihe Con- 
cessions and Agreements of the Proprietors, Freeholders and Inhabitants of West New Jersey in 
America." went on apace, the grants of land being liberal in quantity, and the surroundings 




Ship Wei.comk 



60 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



being especially attractive and congenial to members of the Society of Friends, from whom the 
early settlements of West New Jersey were very largely recruited. 

August 6, 1680, a new grant was made by the Duke of York, conveying the soil and gov- 
ernment of West New Jersey to William Penn, Edward Byllynge, Gawen Lawry, Nicholas 
Lucas, John Eldridge, of St. I'aul's, Shawell, in the County of Middlesex, tanner, and Edmond 
Warren, citizen, of London, the two last having acquired the Fenwick interest. These transac- 




PENi^'s Treaty With the Indians 



tions, having to do with New Jersey, would have little to do with a history of Philadelphia or 
Pennsylvania, if it were not for one figure in their personnel. It was his connection with these 
colonial activities which gave William Penn the knowledge and inspiration which led to his sub- 
sequent connection. Thus he learned of the goodness of the region, and was induced, when 
the opportunity offered, to procure the land on the west of the Delaware for himself. He and 
the other trustees sent over commissioners from England, who selected the site of the present 
Burlington as the chief settlement, to which came in 1677 the ship Kent, with two hundred and 
thirty immigrants. Others followed, and the surrounding country soon became thickly settled. 

Returning to the affairs of this period on the west side of the Delaware, it is interesting to 
note that there were in May, 1675, only three churches in the territory now comprised in the 
states of Delaware and Pennsylvania. One of these was the Dutch Church, at New Castle, 
another at Crainhoeck (later known as Tanhook), which was long known as the Old Stone Church, 
within the city limits of Wilmington, and the third was the church at Tinicum. A special court 
held by Governor Andross, at New Castle, May 22) and 24. 1675, took up the question of churches 
and ordered that these churches should continue, and that the church at Tinicum Island should 
serve for Upland and parts adjacent. It appearing that there was no church further up the river, 
the magistrates of Upland were ordered to cans? "a church or place of meeting for that purpose 



THE STORY OF PliILADRLPinA 



M 



to be built at Wickcii^koo, for the inhabitants of Proublc with the authorities at New York, and 
empow(>red to raise a tax. In accordance with this order the Swedes' Church, first place of wor- 
ship to be built within the present limits of thecily of Philadelphia, was erected. It was an en- 
largement, i)r()bably, of the old block house, which had been built at the same place for defence 
against the Indians in 1669, with such alterations as were necessary to ht it for public worship. 
The presum])tion that it was a remodeling of the block house arose from the fact that all early 
accounts of the church mention the fact that it had "loopholes." It was finished early enough 
in 1677 for the first sermon in the edifice to be preached on Trinity Sunday of that year. The 
sermon was preached in the Dutch language, by Rev. Jacob I\abricius, who accepted the call from 




First City Hai.l, Phil.a,delphia, 111,^3 to 1707 

the Swedish church, at Wiccaco, continuing with that charge for fourteen years, for nine of which 
he was entirely blind. Mr. Fabricius had been brought to New York in 1669 at the request of 
the Lutherans. He had been several times in touble with the authorities at New York, and 
had been suspended from the ministry. His appointment to the pastorate of the Swedish church 
shows, however, that he had been reinstated, and his long incumbency reveals the fact that he 
served faithfully. 

A tract of land on the west side of the Dela.vare, "beginning at a creek next to the cold 
spring, somewhat above Mattinicum Island, ab^ut eight or nine miles below the Falls, and as 
far above said falls as the other is below them* * * and also all islands in the Delaware 
River within the above limits, below and above the Falls (except only one island called Peter 
Alrick's Island)," was conveyed, October 3, 1675, to Edmond Andros for the Duke, by four 
"true sachems and lawful Indian proprietors." For comparison with present land value, it may 
be interesting to enumerate the items of the valuable consideration received by these braves : 



62 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



"60 fathoms wampum, 6 duffle coats, 6 blankets, 6 coats of gingham, 6 shirts, one-half anker of 
powder, 6 guns, 6 shovels, 30 axes, 50 knives, 2 ankers of rum, 50 looking glasses, 50 hoes, 20 
pairs stockings. 20 pairs shoes, 100 tobacco pipes, 1 pound of paint, 100 anvils and 100 Jew's-harps." 
Robert Wade and other Friends came from England and settled in Upland in 1675. Fen- 
wick and other Friends who had settled in Salem across the river established a weekly meet- 
ing for divine worship, and a monthly meeting for church discipline, at Salem. William Ed- 
mundsor. a public Friend, made a visit to the D.-laware in 1675, and attended the meetings of 
Friends at Salem and New Castle, and also took i)art in a meeting at Robert Wade's house, in 
Upland, where meetings were regularly established. Thence Edmundson proceeded, accom- 
panied by Robert Wade and another Friend, to Maryland, to meet co-religionists at various 
places in that proxince. 




Penn's Housk 
From the fact that West Jersey's proprietorship was practically in Quaker control, the 
colonization of that province included a very large proportion of Friends among the immi- 
grants. No better settlers ever undertook the development of a new land. One of the annoy- 
ances experienced by the early settlements in West Jersey was the claim of Governor Andros to 
entire political control, and the levying duties upon the commerce at the Hoarkill by the New 
York government. The proprietors considered these imposts as being insulting to their sovereign- 
ty and made freciuent remonstrance to the agents of the Duke of York, but finally, after an in- 
vestigation by commissioners, appointed for that purpose, the duty was repealed. Finding com- 
mission government lacking in various ways, theProprietaries concluded to appoint a governor 
for West New Jersey, and selected Edward Byllynge for the office. Soon after his arrival in the 
province he selected Samuel Jennings as his deputy. In November, 1681, at the call of Jennings, 



THE STORY OF rillLADELPHIA 



(^?> 



[hv rn">t Asscmlily nf that ])r()\incr iiK't. This Asst-nibly, wiili the aid of Deputy Governor Jen- 
iiiii<is. (lehned and hniitcd the (hities and powers of the governor and busied itself with the 
enactment of much needed legislation. 

Sir George Carteret, the proi)rietor of East Jersey, died on January 14, 1679, and by his 
will, dated December 5, 1678. left his widow, Lady Carteret, exectitrix of his estate and guardian 
of his grandson and heir. TTe devised to "Edwarl. I'.arl of Sandwich; John, Earl of Hath; Hon. 
Bernard Grenville. brother to the luirl of Bath ; Sir 'J'homas Crewe. Knight of the Bath ; Sir 
l\()I)erl Atkins, Knight of the Bath; and Edward .\tkyns. Esquire, one of the Barons of the I'^.x- 
chequer. among other lands, all his property in Eist Jersey, in trust for the benefit of his creditors. 
( jn February 20, 1680. the Earl of Sandwich released all his interest in the trust to his asso- 
ciates, and they began their endeavors to sell Eist Jersey by private sale. As no purchaser was 
found, it was determined to otTer the province at i)ublic sale to the highest bidder or bidders. 
The sale resulted in the purchase of East Jersey l)y William Penn and eleven associates, for the 
sum of Three thousand four hundred pounds, the deed from Lady Carteret and eight trustees nam- 
ing the purchasers as W^illiaiu Penn, of Warminghurst. Sussex; Robert West, of Middle Tem- 
ple. London ; Thomas Rudyard, of London ; Samuel Groome, of Stepney Parish, Middlesex, mar- 
iner; Thomas Hart, of Enfield, ^liddlesex, merchant; Richard Mew. of Stepney Parish, mer- 
chant; Thomas Wilcox, of London, goldsmith ; AuiIm-osc Rigg, of Catton Place, Surrey; pihn 
Hevwood, of London, skinner ; Hugh Hartshorn, of London, skinner; Clement Plumstead of 




1690 Assembly House 

London, draper ; and Thomas Cooper, of London, merchant. These proprietors added twelve 
others to their number, making twenty-four shares, and Thomas Wilcox disposed of his entire 
interest. Eliminating him from the list, the thirteen new names were James, Earl'of Perth; John 
Drummond, of Lundy ; Robert Barclay, of Urie; David Barclay, Junior, of Urie ; Robert Gordon, 
of Cluny ; and Arend Sonmans. of Wallingford — all of the Kingdom of Scotland ; Gawen 
Lawry. of London, merchant; Edward Byllynge, of Westminster; James Braine, of London, mer- 
chant ; William Gibson, of London, haberdasher ; Thomas Barker, of London, merchant ; and Rob- 
ert Turner and Thomas Warne, of Dul)lin ,merchants. The Duke of York, on March 14, 1682. 
confirmed the sale to these twenty-four proprii-tors, by an explicitly worded grant, and on No- 
vember 23, 1683, King Charles II formally recognized the proprietors' right to soil and gov- 
ernment. Robert Barclay, one of the proprietors, was chosen governor for life. He did not come 
to America himself, but sent, in 1682, Thomas Rudyard, a lawyer, who was succeeded in 1683 
by Gawen Lawry. 

In the negotiations by which the two Jerseys had been brought into possession of owners, 
among whom a majority were members of the Sxnety of Friends, the leading spirit was Will- 
iam Penn, who had in view the creation of communities in America where "the people called 



64 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Quakers" could live without hindrance the lives of kindliness and prosperity appropriate to the 
principles of Friends. In connection wath the many negotiations about the Jerseys, Penn learned 
much al)out the location, the conditions and the problems of those colonies and of the con- 
tiguous colonies of the Delaware. 

William Penn was born in London, October 14, 1644. He was the son of Admiral Sir Will- 
iam IVnn. who had gained renown by his valor as an officer of His Majesty's navy, ranking 
high among the nation's heroes, and in the favor of the king and his court. Admiral Penn 
had not only served faithfully, but had advanced money from his own funds for the naval 
service, which sums, with arrears of his pay, amounted to a claim against the British Govern- 
ment of sixteen thousand pounds. This claim, when he died, the admiral left for his son. 

The negotiations which William Penn bad conducted in relation to the Jerseys, East and 
West, had impressed him with a strong sense of the value and prospects of land on the Atlantic 
slope of America, and he conceived the idea that he could possibly secure a grant of his own. 
Therefore, in 1680, after four years of connection with the New Jersey projects, he petitioned 
Charles H to grant him, in lieu of the sum owed to him by the British Government, "letters pat- 
ent for a tract of land in America, lying north of Maryland, on the east bounded by the Dela- 
ware River, on the west limited as Maryland, and northwest to extend as far as plantalile." The 
grant, as made and signed by King Charles H, l)y patent on March 4, 1681, is a little more ex- 
plicit, stating that "the grant comprises all that part of America, islands included, which is 
bounded on the east by the Delaware River fron a point on a circle twelve miles northward of 




The Old Court House and Friends' Meeting House 

New Castle town, to the 43° north latitude if th.^ Delaware extends so far; if not, as far as it 
does extend, and thence to the 43° by a meridian line. From this point westward five degrees 
of longitude on the 43° parallel ; the western boundary to the 40th parallel and thence by a 
straight line to the place of beginning." 

In making his plea for the grant to the committee appointed to examine into the matter by 
the Privy Council, Penn's petition stated that his object in seeking it was not only to provide a 
peaceful home for the persecuted members of the Society of Friends, but also to aiTord an asylum 
for the good and oppressed of all nations by applying to them the principles of purity and 
peace, which were inherent in true Christianity. There was much opposition. The agent of the 
Duke of York, Sir John Werden, contended that the tract sought was all included in the Duke's 
grant, and a part of the province of New York, but released his opposition when the Duke him- 
self approved the granting of Mr. Penn's request. Mr. Burke, representing Lord Baltimore, stren- 
uously opposed, claiming that most of the land sought was in Maryland. Others opposed because 



THE STORY OF ri 1 1 LADIiLPIlIA 



65 



Mr. Penn's ideas were Utopian and republican. But William I'cnn had strong friends at Court, 
such as the Earl of Halifax. Lord Hyde, the Earl of Sunderland, and Chief Justice North. Sir 
William Jones, examining the petition in view of the proposed boundaries, reported that, with 
slight alterations, it conflicted with no territory in previous grants, except the imaginary and im- 
practical western boundaries of the New England grants, which were supposed to extend to 
the main ocean. After passing the scrutiny of the Lords of Trade, to see that the grant did not 
infringe upon the commercial rights of Great Britain, and that of the Bishop of London to 
safeguard the rights of the church, it was finally approved. 

The name of the colony, left blank for th:^ king to fill up, was inserted as "Pennsylva- 
nia." which everybody thought was a good name except William Penn, who thought it would 
be charged to him as a piece of egotism. His own choice for a name was "New Wales,'' but 
wJK'ii he was told that the name the king had chosen was suggested in honor of his father, 
rather than himself, he submitted to the king's decision without further objection. One ac- 
count says that when Penn's proposition to call his province "New Wales" was overruled, he 
was asked to suggest his second choice. In vie>v of the woodland character of the country, he 
proposed to call it "Sylvania." This pleased the king, who himself added the "Penn'' ])refix. 
Thus the jM'ovince gained a Latinized name which may be freely translated "Penn's Woods." 




Market Square and Church, Germantown 

There have been many volumes written ab)ut William Penn, whose career was in many 
respects unique, and whose influence not only on his own time, but also on all American his- 
tory, was very potent for good. He was born, as we have already said, in London in 1644. the son 
of Vice-Admiral Sir William Penn, of the British navy, and Margaret Jasper Penn, daughter 
of a wealthy merchant of Rotterdam. The father, who had gained distinction in the navy, was a 
favorite at the Court, both with King Charles H and his brother, the Duke of York, heir pre- 
sumptive to the throne. He made early progress in the navy, becoming a post-captain at the age 
of twenty. Though his early appointment and promotions were due to the Lord Protector. 
Oliver Cromwell, he did not hesitate to abandon the Commonwealth and offer his fleet to 
Charles H as soon as the opportunity occurred. He accumulated a considerable fortune and 
hoped for a peerage, and gained such a high place in the favor of the king and his brother 
James, Duke of York, that he would doubtless have realized his ambition alxnit the i)eerage if 



66 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



it had not been that his son, who was his heir apparent, had imbibed what were regarded as 
the obnoxious tenets of the much-despised people called Quakers. 

l"hc admiral was a man of the world in fall harmony with the gay and profligate court 
of Charles II. It was his hope to train his son as a cavalier and courtier, amid aristocratic and 
royalist surroundings. Royalist, the son always remained, but his manners and principles were 
fashioned and led in directions far removed fron those of the court of the "Merry Monarch." 
His always serious mind was affected by the example and admonition of his Dutch mother, 
whose immediate ancestry was Puritan. At the age of eleven, he experienced a spiritual 
awakening which he regarded as a call to a "ho'y life." It was a time of religious fervor and 
spiritual experiences similar to those of Penn, but they were not frequent among the cavalier 
class, nor was the aristocratic and exclusive Chigwell Grammar School, which the boy was at- 
tending when he had this experience, the kind of place to expect such personal visitations of spir- 
itual power as were frequently witnessed at Puritan and Quaker meetings. 




Market House, Second and Pine Streets 

There is a tendency on the part of those Ics spiritually minded to attribute such experiences 
as those of the boy Penn to something anemic ii his physical make-up. In Penn's case, however, 
there is no such solution of the problem, for ht was a robust boy who, though thoughtful and 
studious beyond the average of his years, was athletic and fond of running, rowing, hunting 
and field sports. He went to Christ Church Col ege. Oxford, where he maintained his record 
for studiousness and seriousness. A religious snisation of the day was that created by George 
Fox and his followers, whose theology and prac ices were regarded as being revolutionary and 
full of defiance to both State and Church. Its members refused to pay tithes for the support of 
the Church of England; refused to take oaths to verify their testimony in courts, believing such 
oaths to be blasphemous; wore their hats before all men, and practiced their religion without sac- 
raments, ceremonials or hired priests. Full of nrssionary zeal, they preached their doctrines wher- 
ever they could get a hearing, and took the persecutions, punishments and imprisonments which 
resulted from their religious views and methods in the spirit of the martyrs of Nero's day. 



THE STORY OF FIIJLADELPIIIA 



67 



Penn first came into touch with these pecuHar people while at Oxford, attending meetings 
at which Thomas Loe preached and expounded the beliefs of the Society of Friends. The Uni- 
versity attempted to discipline Penn and his associates for attending these meetings, but they 
persisted in their right to do so, and were expelled from the University. Admiral Penn was 
furious at the untilial conduct (as he appraised it) of his son and heir, and tried both beatings and 
cajolings, even going to the extreme of turning him out of doors, but later calling him home 
again. To cure his son of what he thought a senseless infatuation for strange and insane doc- 
trines, he sent him to France, but there, although he ac(|uired the manners and dress of a courtier, 
he also fed his religious hunger by studying the writings of the reformers of Geneva. When the 
Cive&t Plague ravaged I>ondon in 1665. it made adeej) impression on Penn, who was then in his 
twenty-first year. His father, still bent upon getting such things out of his head, sent him to 
Dublin to become a member of the gay court of the Duke of Ormonde, then viceroy of Ireland, 
and at the same time gave him charge of the f-^milv estates in Ireland. He danced with the 




Stenton, Log.^n's Country Seat 

belles of Dublin, fenced and hunted, and applied for a troop of horse. He was a well set-up and 
handsome fellow, and while he attained the manners and accomplishments of court life, he also 
showed a good deal of acumen in the management of the Penn estates in Ireland. He was very 
popular and very influential and his cavalier friends were beginning to think he might lay aside 
the strange and fanatical ideas which had seemed to handicap his career. But Thomas Loe, who 
had spiritually fascinated him at Oxford, went preaching to Cork, and Penn went to hear him. 
All the serious thoughts that had been put somewhat in the background were revived in their full 
force, and he became a convinced Quaker. 

His father, hearing of his son's relapse, called him home from Ireland and tried to persuade 
him to drop his inconvenient convictions, but found him to be adamant. The father drove him 
from home, and stopped his allowance, but his mother found ways to supply his means. This 
exile gave him free time to devote to the cause now nearest his heart. He became a regular mem- 
ber of the Society of Friends, became personally acquainted and intimate with George Fox. and 
soon was recognized as one of the most faithful and eflicient of the followers of that famous 
and gifted leader. Like Fox, he preached in public, which was in violation of a statute, and soon 
found himself in jail. Fox w^as a man of power as a preacher, but illiterate. Penn was an edu- 
cated gentleman and was able to take the doctrines and dress them up in forms more attract- 



68 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



ive to the educated and refined. His preaching brought him to jail, remaining nine months under 
a sentence which might have kept him there for hfe unless he recanted. He improved the time 
by writing his book, "No Cross. No Crown," which is a classic in the literature of the Society of 
Friends. He was released from that imprisonment at request of the Duke of York. It was not 
long before he was again arrested for preaching in the street, and placed in jail. When brought 
into court be wore his hat, Quaker fashion, and was fined. He would not pay the fine, as a 
matter of Quaker principle, but his father, who was on his deathbed, paid it for him. In 1670 he 
served another term of six months for street preaching, in one of the detestable and noisome 
jails of that period. When the term of his imprisonment expired he went on the continent to 
recui)erate, preaching at various places. In 1672 he married a Quakeress, Gulielma Springett, 
daughter of Sir William Springett. It was a love-match, and the bride was beautiful and amiable 
and in full sympathy with her husband's ambitions. The jail experiences of Mr. Penn, and the 
insult and contumely heaped u])()n his co-religionists deeply impressed him. How to ameliorate 




Walnut Street Prison 



this condition and free the Friends so that they might worshij) {\yK\ according to the Inner Light, 
in which they so steadfastly believed, and to live the holy life to which they felt themselves to be 
called, was now his object. He recalled how the Puritans, with a sinnlar problem had settled a 
New England for themselves, and the Catholic^, for like reason, had followed Lord Baltimore 
to Maryland. 

Admiral Penn died, and left his son a prop.^rty in England and Irish estates valued, on an 
income basis, at i 1,500 per year, which was a considerable fortune for that period. He had, in 
addition, the debt which amounted, with interest, to i 16,000, due from the Government to his 
father. An asset of great value to his plans was his own standing in court, for in spite of the 
unpojnilarity in court circles of his religious views, and notwithstanding his numerous imprison- 
ments, he retained his old friends, both because of his father's services and his own merits. He 
enjoyed in special degree the friendship and favor of James, Duke of York, who. as occasion 
presented itself, helped along the colonial enterprises in which Penn engaged. 

When, at different times, the New Jersey grants of Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret 
came into market, it was the business acumen and enterprise of Penn which secured for the 
Friends so important a share in the ownership and settlement of both West and East New Jersey. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 69 



But in those colonics, jjarlicnlarly in l''ast Jersey, there was a consideraljle immigration of a mis- 
cellaneous character, so that while Quaker intlucnce there was important, it did not preponderate. 
Therefore Penn desired to secure a grant for land to which Friends should come in such superior 
numlx^-s as to secure adequate control of ])uhlic business. In the carrying out of his ambitions 
his claim of sixteen thousand pounds against the Government bore an important part, and, as 
before stated, secured the proj^rietorship of Pennsylvania to I^enn. He brought to the task the 
qualifications of a most capable business man, a skillful diplomat, a constructive statesman, and 
a right-minded and able administrator. 

After the grant and charter of the new province of Pennsylvania had been made to Penn, 
by Charles II, public proclamation of the fact was made by the king, who admonished the j^eople 
living within the granted territory to yield ready obedience to Penn, his deputies and lieutenants, 
and Penn himself issued a proclamation to the inhabitants, declaring his desire for their wel- 
fare and happiness, his intention to govern uprightly, and his purpose that they should be ruled 
by laws of their own making. It was necessary that Penn, or someone entitled to represent him, 
should be on the ground to take possession under the charter. For one reason. Lord Baltimore's 
government was waiting on the other side with a boundary dispute. Penn was constrained to stay 
behind in order to prepare and publish an advertisement intended to attract emigration to the 
province, which, though, at that time, he had never been in America, contained an exposition of 
the conditions and resources of the country which was wonderfully accurate. To look after his 
interests in the colony Penn appointed as his deputy Captain William Markham. of the British 
army, who was his cousin, the son of his father's sister. His commission from Penn, dated April 
20, 1681. gave him power to appoint a council of nine members, of which he was to act as 
president; to secure recognition of Penn's authority on the part of the people; to settle bounds 
between Penn and his neighbors ; to survey, lay out, rent or lease lands according to instructions ; 
to erect courts, appoint sherififs. justices of the peace, and such other inferior ofiicers as were 
needed to keep the peace and enforce the laws; ti suppress any riot or disturbance by use of the 
posse comitatas. and to make such ordinances as Penn himself might make in furtherance of the 
peace and security of the province. 

Armed with these instructions, and also enjoined by Penn to settle boundaries with Lord 
Baltimore, to whom he carried a letter written ])y Penn, Governor Markham sailed for America, 
arriving in New York June 21, 1681. As the grant to Penn included in its boundaries settle- 
ments which had been claimed and governed as part of the province of New York. Governor 
Markham called upon Governor Anthony Brockholls. of the province of New York, from whom 
he procured the issuance of a proclamation to the inhabitants of Pennsylvania, advising them to 
ol)ey the king's charter and yield ready obedience to the new proprietary and his deputy. 

Penn had intended to go out to Pennsylvania in the autumn of 1681. but his successful pro- 
motion work had resulted in securing such a large number of emigrants to his province, that he 
was led to postpone his departure. Meanwhile, he sent out, in October, a commission composed of 
William Crispin (Penn's cousin). John Bezar and Nathaniel Allen, who were to cooperate with 
Governor Markham in the laying out of a site for the "great city," which Penn was ambitious to 
build in his province. By June L 1682, Penn had sold five hundred and sixty-five thousand five 
hundred acres of land in his province in tracts of from two hundred and fifty to twenty thousand 
acres, the largest to the Free Society of Traders, whose twenty thousand acres w'as in a single 
l)lock. Captain Thomas Holme was commissioned by Penn, April 18, 1682, as surveyor-general 
of Pennsylvania, and sailed on the Amity on April 23. 

Penn's mother died in June. 1682, bringing deep grief to him. for her affection had followed 
him with deep sympathy, both in times of trouble and seasons of prosperity. On .August 24, the 
Duke of York executed a deed transferring to William Penn the Horekill and New Castle (the 



70 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



territory now embraced in the State of Delaware), and on August 31 gave him a protective deed 
to Pennsylvania. 

He had gathered more than a thousand people for his province, who had gone on various 
ships, and on September 1, 1682, with a large company of his Quaker brethren, he embarked in the 
Welcome, three hundred tons. Captain Robert Greenway, master, bound on his first visit to his 
province. 




Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon 



C H 



A 



P 



E R 



F 



I 



V E 



PENN'S FIRST VISIT AND HOW HE RULED HIS 

PROVINCE— BIRTH AND INFANCY 

OF PHILADELPHIA 

William Penn had. for that period, a fairly quick voyage to his ]jro\ inee, the Welcome reach- 
ing the Capes of the Delaware on (3ctoher 24, aid New Castle on October 27, 1682. Unfortunate- 
ly the smallpox, that scourge then supposed to be unconquerable and most deadly, was taken 
aboard with the passengers at Deal. Out of the one hundred passengers on that ship, thirty died 
during the voyage. Penn earned the admiration and good will of Iiis fellow-passengers by his 
friendly Christian ministrations to the sick and dving. 
Upon arrival at the town 

of New Castle he was re- 

ceived by tiie people with 
much cordiality, and the 
town was formally turned 
over to his possession, he 
Exhibiting his deeds from 
the Duke of York. John 
Moll and Ephraim Herman, 
Attorneys, represented the 
Duke, and one of the com- 
missioners delivered to Penn 
the key of the fort. He pro- 
ceeded at once to the organ- 
ization of his colony, ap- 
pointing sheriffs for the 
counties recently added to 
his grant. He rode to 
New York to vrsit Governor 
Brockholls and acquaint 

himself, at hrst hand, with the condition of the colony of his ro\al patron, James, Duke of York. 
On his return he went to Chester, and issued writs to the sheriffs of the counties for an election 
to be held November 20 to select representatives to serve as their deputies in the Provincial Coun- 
cil and delegates in General Assembly to meet December, 1682, at Upland (Chester). 

When the Assembly met, the first day was devoted to the work of organizing and the selec- 
tion of committees, verifying credentials, straightening out election contests and devising rules 
and regulations. The first legislative duty came in a petition from the three lower counties 
(now comprised in the State of Delaware) and also from the Swedes, asking that they be 
annexed and united with the Pennsylvanians in equal citizenship. Responsive to these peti- 
tions, an Act of Union and Naturalization was the first bill to pass the General Assembly. 
The preamble sets forth the several titles by which Penn had become Proprietary of Pennsyl- 




Treatv Tree and Fairman's Mansion 



70 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



vania, and had also acquired the three lower counties, or Delaware Hundreds, and the act goes 
on to declare these counties to be annexed to the province of Pennsylvania as of the proper 
territory thereof, and that "the people therein shall be governed by the same laws and enjoy the 
same privileges in all respects as the inhabitants of Pennsylvania do or shall enjoy." It also 
provides "all persons who are strangers and foreigners that do now inhabit this province and 
counties aforesaid shall be held and reputed freemen of the province and counties aforesaid, in 
as ample and full manner as any person residing therein." The only proviso to this naturaliza- 
tion was that the alien should promise allegiance to the king of England and obedience to the 
Proprietary and his government. This bill, and, in fact, all the bills introduced in the Assem- 
bly, came down from the Governor. Penn's "Great Law" was also passed. Penn had before 
formulated a "Frame of Government" and later a code of "Laws Agreed Upon in England" 
to govern his new province. Later a revision of these, somewhat altered in detail and consider- 
ably improved in literary form, was prepared to serve as the organic law of the provmce. It 
contains sixty-nine sections. 




M.\kke;t Street and Market Shambles 



This "Great Law" is liberal in its terms, in comparison with the law and practice in other 
countries or colonies of that period, so far as the franchise is concerned, and in the matter of 
religious freedom is especially so. The right to vote or hold office is restricted to those who 
profess and declare that they believe in Jesus Christ to be the Son of God and Saviour of the 
world. This excluded not only atheists and absolute non-Cliristians, but also those who, 
acknowledging the ethical teachings, denied the diety of Jesus, as Arians or Socinians. But, 
so far as the freedom of worship is concerned, the Penn code had no equal in any other country, 
except in the Act of Toleration of the Province of Maryland, which was equally tolerant. Sir 
George Calvert, in his charter of 1632. and his son, Caecilius Calvert, who was the power behind 
the Maryland Act of Toleration of 1649, were Catholics and had felt the severities of Protest- 
ant persecution of the seventeenth century. Penn and his Quakers had a like experience of 
sectarian rigor against their religion in England. But the Quaker principles of peace and brother- 
hood left no room for cruel resprisals in what was virtually a Quaker government. In 
strong contrast to the treatment accorded by Puritan New England to Baptists, Quakers and 



77//: STORY OF PI I ILADELPHIA 



other Christians not of their own fold, the Quakers of Pennsylxania and the Cathohcs of Mary- 
land, hy their enactments in regard to freedom of worshij). showed that they had learned the les- 
sons of mutual tolerance. 

The moral code embodied in Penn's "Great Law'' was a very strict one. It is particularly 
so with reference to Lord's Day Observance. Swearing', blasphemy, cursing-, ol)scene words 
were all punishable by lines and imprisonment ; "rude and riotous sports, prizes, stage-plays, 
masks, revels, bull-baits, cock-fighting, with such like." were treated as breaches of the peace to 
be punished hy ten days in the workhouse or a tine of twenty shillings. 

The form of the government which Penn introduced was not democratic. Though he had 
proclaimed it as one in which the settler woidd have a voice, it could only be so characterized 
by a very liberal interpretation of its terms. It is true that both the Council and the CJeneral 
Assembly were elective bodies, but the General Assembly had no other function in legislation 
than to approve or reject bills proposed and prepared by the (jovernor and Provincial Council. 
Twenty-four of the Council w^as a quorum, twelve of whom, with the Governor's casting vote, 
constituted a majority. The Governor had three votes, the Free Society of Traders had six 
votes, and the other members of the Council one each. So that the (jOvernor, in agreement with 
the Free Society, only needed to have three or four of their friends in the membership to control 
legislation absolutely. It would be very easy to demonstrate from the waitings of William 
Penn that this "Frame of Government." so far as the sources of legislation are concerned, did 
not represent his hopes or ideals for his colony. Penn must have known and fully recognized, 
and doubtless deplored, the total inadequacy of this arrangement as a scheme for insuring pop- 
ular freedom. That he himself was a strong believer in and advocate of representative govern- 
ment is beyond question. The only feasible explanation of the retention in Pennsylvania 
administration of this form of "Governor and Council" rule which had been a bone of con- 
tention in every one of Britain's American colonies, is that Penn had probably been compelled 
to give it sanction and adherence as a condition precedent to the making of the grants to him 
In- the king and the duke. For the Stuarts were the arch foes of popular assemblies, and the 
duke, in his own ]M-ovince of New York, was at that time struggling with the same question. 

Outside of this one great blemish there were many good features in the fundamental legis- 
lation for Pennsylvania at that period. To the old settlers on the Delaware it marked a dis- 
tinct advance in the condition of the inhabitants. The principal interest of the new^ settlers was 
centered upon the procurement of well-located homesteads and dwellings on farms and in tow-ns. 
But the matter of greatest interest to the people of the province as a whole was the location 
and laying out of the new great city of Penn's province. At first there was some idea of locat- 
ing it at Upland, where the Swedes had established a quite important settlement ; but that would 
have required the extinguishment by purchase of several Swedish titles. So Markham had 
decided to use Upland as a temporary capital until the new city of Philadelphia should be ready. 
The town was named before it was located. It was chosen by Penn himself as expressive of 
the kind of a city he wanted it to be. The name, copied from that of the city of Asia Minor 
mentioned in St. John's Apocalypse as one of the "Seven Churches in Asia." and meaning "City 
of Brotherly Love" was very appropriately chosen as that of a city wdiich was to be under 
the governmental control of members and managed under the jirinciples of the Society of 
Friends. 

The instructions of Penn to the commissioners he had appointed to locate and establish the 
town had l)een very explicit so far as the basic requirements w^ere concerned. It was to have 
an effective water frontage, suitable for a seaport. It was to be laid out in straight and reg- 
ular streets. Spaces were to be reserved for markets and squares. The commissioners chose 
an oblong tract of 1280 acres, extending from the Delaware to the Schuylkill, fronting one mile 



74 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



on each of these rivers, the distance between being 2.13 miles. The locality of the tract had 
been previously known by its Indian name of Coaquanock. The original intention was to lay 
out a town plot to cover ten thousand acres, in which each person buying five hundred acres 
in the country was to be allotted ten acres in th e town ; but, with the smaller area actually 
included in the survey, this could not be done. Later the Liberties were created, and many of 
the settlers received their bonuses in land in the Northern Liberties, lying north of the city, or 
in the Western Liberties, beyond the Schuylkill. 

Thomas Holme, the surveyor, laid out the city with geometrical precision. Vine Street 
was the northern boundary and Cedar (now South) Street the southern. The most import- 
ant east and west street, extending from river to river, was made one hundred feet wide. In 
accordance with custom in the nomenclature of streets of English towns this main thorough- 
fare was named High Street, but later, when markets were established upon it, the name was 
changed to Market Street, as at present. A street of the same width, extending through the 
city from north to south, was named Broad Street. As the intersection of these two main 
streets a square of ten acres was surveyed, upon which the various public buildings, including 
a Friends' Meeting House, were to be erected. , 




Shoemaker's First Farm, Germantown 



So many settlers came over in 1682 that there was not house room for more than a fraction 
of them. Such settlers as had houses made room for as many as possible of the newcomers, 
but others had to live in hastily constructed log cabins, caves or tents until the spring came, or, 
at least, until temporary quarters could be built. Not only was the number of immigrants who 
came over under the inducements of Penn larger than had ever come to America in a like period 
under private auspices, but it may be said that the quality of the immigration, from a standard 
of moral and economic efficiency, had never been equaled in the previous annals of American 
settlement. The rigors of a winter in caves and tents proved too great for some of the more 
elderly immigrants, of whom several died. As for the others, many of the Quaker settlers had 
faced greater perils and privations in the unsanitary and noisome jails of England. There 
was healthful work to do with axe and spade in the open, the food supply was plentiful, the 
water excellent and the air pure and invigorating. In one of the caves occupied as temporary 
quarters by the immigrants, John Key was born that winter, the first child of English parents 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



/-"> 



that could ever claim Philadelphia as his l)irth place. Penn s^ave congratulaton' recognition of 
this important birth by presenting the child with a plot of ground in Philadelphia. Though the 
boy lived to be a man of eighty-five years old. he was known until the day of his death as "fohn 
Key, the firstborn." 

In Penn's "Great Law," adopted by the first Assembly, at Chester, there is a section (No. 
40) which reads: "The days of the week and the months of the year shall be called as in Scrip- 
ture, and not by heathen names as are vulgarly used, as the first, second and third days of the 
week, and first, second and third months of the year, etc., beginning with the day called Sun- 
day and the month called March." Thus was the Quaker calendar cstal)lished as the legal one 




The Great Townk House, 1704- 1735 

The Great Towne House, the seat of the State and city government, was located in the middle of High 
(Market) Street, west of Second Street. It was erected seventeen years prior to Carpenters' Hall and 
twenty-eight years before the State House. 



in the Province of Pennsylvania. But there were Quaker features in the government of Penn- 
sylvania under William Penn which were of far more value than the adoption of numerical 
names for the days of the week and the months of the year. The most valuable endowment 
brought by the Quakers to Pennsylvania was the Golden Rule. William Penn carried kindness 
and friendliness across the Atlantic with him and applied them to all his transactions and inter- 
course with all the peoples about him, Swedes, Dutch, English or Indians. The name he had given 
to his city described the ideal he had personally set up for it. He was especially solicitous for 
the welfare of the aborigines, anxious that no man brought or introduced by him should in the 
least degree molest, defraud or injure those who, if not the owners, at least were for several 
generations the occupiers. He felt that the Indian was entitled to the colonists' protection and 
friendship, and that so far as he could control or influence legislative or executive action in his 
colony, he negotiated treaties with them for the peaceful acquirement of the lands of the 
neighborhood, but still more gratifying was the spirit of amity which he brought and the 
mutual understanding by which these Christian settlers and Indian tribes obligated themselves 
to each other in mutual bonds of peace and friendship. 



76 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



It is known that there were several meetings, at some of which land purchases were made, 
but at all of them there was the spirit of kindness and mutual concession. It is unfortunately 
true that the one of the treaty meetings which has attained the greatest degree of legendary 
fame, that beneath the famous "treaty tree" at Shackamaxon (an Indian village located on a site 
now a part of the Kensington district), is the one of which specific verification is least avail- 
able. Tradition placed it 1682, but research seems to point to June, 1683, as the more correct 
date. This Shackamaxon Treaty gets its fame largely because it forms the subject of one of 
the most famous paintings of Benjamin West. It is unfortunate that this picture has made a 
national tradition which does great injustice to the facts about the personal appearance of the 
founder of Pennsylvania. He was not a corpulent, overfed patriarch when, at the age of thirty- 
eight, he came to his colony. He was a man of stalwart, graceful athletic build and heroic 
spirit, with a courtier's training and a martyr's courage, at home alike in a palace and in the 
wilderness, serious in mind and purpose, cheerful, alert, kindly. The West conception of his 
physical characteristics were evidently wide of the mark. 




The question as to the authenticity of the Shackamaxon legend was one of the earliest to 
engage the attention of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, which was organized in 1825. 
A committee appointed for the purpose, after a,n extensive investigation, reported to the Society 
in 1835 to the effect that while no treaty was ever negotiated at Shackamaxon for the purchase 
of lands, with which were joined stipulations for peace and amity, there was a conference at 
Shackamaxon, probably in November, 1682, under thQ great elm tree, which was blown down 
in 1810. There is no written record of that occasion, and possibly none was made, because 
there was no land transaction involved, but the occasion, whether it occurred in 1682 or 1683, 
has come down in well verified tradition as one of the several occasions which established peace 
and amity between the Quaker colonists and the Indian tribes with whom they came in contact. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



In the other colonies and with other classes of English settlers there were frequent conflicts with 
the Indians, but the Friends of Pennsylvania, comporting themselves with peace and genuine 
friendship, won their way into the confidence of the Indians, and were not molested in their 
work of building up their individual homes and fortunes, and creating a prosperous province 
and a thri\ing city. 

( iovernor Markham had, before the arrival of Penn, begun the building of a mansion for 
him at Peimsbury. Its construction was pushed with greater vigor after Penn reached Penn- 
sylvania, but he does not seem to have occupied it permanently until his second visit. Penn 




Second City Hai.l, PHiLADKr.PHiA, 1707 To 1735 



also built a house in Philadelphia for his own use. which is said to have been the first brick 
house erected in the city. This house, called the Letitia House, being named for his daughter, 
and presumably built for her final ownership, was first occupied by Penn himself, and after his 
return to England became the official residence of Governor Markham. Penn did not issue a 
patent of title to the property to his daughter until March 29, 1701. The completion of the 
Pennsbury property did not come until several years after the Founder's return to England, the 
supervision of its construction being left in the liands of James Harrison, a personal friend of 
William Penn, and intrusted with the duties of agent and commissioner in charge of his prop- 
erty interests. The house was on an elevated position fifteen feet above high water mark and 
one hundred and fifty feet from the river, with a winding cove flowing around one side of the 
mansion to its rear. It was located there in order to have a place easily accessible to Philadel- 
phia and also to Burlington, the chief town of the West Jersey plantation, in which Penn was 
also interested. The care taken in the construction of this mansion and the laying out of its 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



surroundings indicated a purpose on Penn's part (which also was definitely avowed by him in 
a letter which he wrote to Lord Colepepper, Governor of Virginia), to settle as a permanent 
residence of Pennsylvania, with his family. 

In the Constitution, or "Frame of Government" which had been adopted to order by the 
First Legislature at Chester, provision had been made for the election from each of the six 
counties of twelve members of the Provincial Council, and of a General Assembly of not more 
than two hundred freemen. By a general consensus of opinion it seems to have been held by 
the people that so large a representation would be too heavy a burden for the counties to carry, 
and they therefore disregarded the charter, electing only twelve representatives each, of whom 
three were designated as members of the Provincial Council, and nine of the General Assembly. 
It may be interesting to insert here the names of the members of these bodies comprising the 
first Legislature to meet in Philadelphia. 

The Council met on March 10, 168.3, with these members: William Markham, governor; 
Thomas Holme, Lasse Cock, Christopher Taylor, James Harrison, William Biles, John Simcock, 
William Clayton. Ralph Withers, William Haige. John Moll, Edward Cantwell, Francis Whit- 
well, John Richardson, John Hilliard, William Clark, Edward Southern and John Roads. 

The following were the members, from each county, of the General Assembly, which met 
on March 12, two days after the other body : 

PHILADELPHL\ COUNTY: John Songhurst, John Hart, Walter King, Andrus Bengs- 
ton, John Moon, Grifiith Jones. William Warner. Swan Swanson (Anglicized form of Sven 
vSvenson, a son of Sven Shute. one of the notable Swedish settlers), and Thomas Wynne, who 
was chosen Speaker of the Assembly. ' 

BUCKS COUNTY : William Yardley, Samuel Darke, Robert Lucas. Nicholas Wain. John 
Wood, John Clows, Thomas Fitzw'alter. Robert Hall. James Borden. 

CHESTER COUNTY : John Hoskins. Robert Wade. George Wood. John Blunston. Den- 
nis Rochford, Thomas Bracy, John Bezar. John Harding, Joseph Phipps. 

NEW CASTLE COUNTY: John Cann. John Darby. Valentine Hollingsworth. Gasparus 
Herman, John Dehraef, James Williams, William Guest, Peter Alrichs. Henrick Williams. 

KENT COUNTY : John Biggs, Simon Irons, Thomas Hassold, John Curtis, Robert Bed- 
well, William Windsmore. John Brinkloe, Daniel Brown, Benoni Bishop. 

SUSSEX COUNTY: Luke Watson. Alexander Draper. William Fletcher. Henry Bowman, 
Alexander Moleston. John Hill, Robert Bracey, John Kipshaden and Cornelius Verhoof. 

Penn himself presided over the first meeting of the Provincial Council in Philadelphia on 
March 10. The question as to the right of the people to act in disregard of the charter by elect- 
ing a less number of representatives than named in it came before the Council, but Penn waived 
the issue aside by declaring his willingness for the electors to amend, alter or add to the charter 
for the public good. Of the laws passed by the Legislature none was of especially local signi- 
ficance, except that prescribing seals for counties which designated that the seal of Philadelphia 
County should be an anchor ; of Bucks, a tree and vine ; of Chester, a plow ; of New Castle, a 
castle; of Kent, an ear of Indian corn, and of Sussex, a sheaf of wheat. Several amendments to 
the charter were proposed and adopted, and when, on March 20. the two houses met in con- 
ference with Governor Markham and he asked them whether they would have the old charter or 
a new one there was a unanimous call for a new charter which should embrape all the adopted 
amendments. Consequently a new Great Charter of the Province was delivered by the Governor, 
and the old one returned, wath "thanks of the whole house" on April 2. The Legislature ad- 
journed the next day. 

The new charter retained the right of the Governor and Council to originate all bills, but 
made various changes, in other respects, from the provisions of the old charter. The legislative 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 79 

representation was fixed at three members of the Council and six members of the General As- 
sembly from each county, with a j)rovision for an increase in representation i)roj)ortioned to the 
future growth of the several counties. The Go\ernor and Council had judicial as well as leg- 
islative functions, and were theoretically in continuous session. Some of the judicial proceedings 
showed a greater regard for what we now call "horse-sense" than formal law. There was a case 
of Jansen versus Peterson of which the record read as follows on the Council minutes of May 
13, 1684: 

"There being a Difference depending between them, the (iovr. &: Councill advised Iheni to 
shake hands, and to forgive One another; and Ordered that they should Enter in bonds for 
fifty pounds apiece for their good abearance ; wch accordingly they did. It was also Ordered 
that the Records of Court concerning that Business should be burnt." 

Histories of New England cite quite a number of cases of witchcraft, but Philadelphia had 
only one such case, that of two poor Swedish women, Margaret Mattson and Gethro Hendrick- 
son. The jury found the two women "guilty of bearing common fame as witches, but not guilty 
as indicated." They were released, the women's husbands going security for them. 

The first provision made by the Provincial Council for fulfillment of the Qiarter provisions 
for the promotion of education appears in the minutes of December 26, 1683. in this quaintly 
spelled record : 

"The Govt and Prov'll Councill having taken into their Serious Consideration the great 
Necessity there is of a School Master for ye Instruction & Sober Education of Youth in the 
towne of Philadeljihia. Sent for Enock Flower an Inhabitant of said Towne, who for twenty year 
past hath been exercised in that care and Imploymt in England, to whom having Communicated 
their blinds, he Embraced it upon these following Terms: to Learn to read English As by the 
Quarter; to learn to read and write 6^- by ye Quarter; to learn to Read. Write and Cast accts 8.? 
by ye Quarter ; for Boarding a Schollar. that is to say, dyet. Washing, Lodging & Scooling. Tenn 
pounds for one whole year." Fro-m a modern standpoint it would seem, from a cursory study 
of this record, that a schoolmaster must iiave been needed in that vicinity. 

Penn, in securing his province and establishing his city, had plans of social betterment in his 
head, as well as thoughts of his personal welfare. The inspiration of his benevolence was his 
own experience of jiersecution for conscience sake. It is true that he planned that those of his 
own particular "household of faith" — the members of the Society of Friends — should have some 
degree of preference and the largest and controlling share in the government of city and prov- 
ince, but it was his set purpose that all Christians should, in his province, be left in free per- 
formance of right to worship, and he proclaimed his desire that his province should become an 
asylum for the oppressed of all nations. One of the measures put through the first Legislature 
held at L^}>land ( Chester) was one providing a plan for the naturalization of foreigners, which. 
in effect, was applied to the Swedes and Dutch who had long antedated the English in the 
settlement of the Delaware River region, but who were all satisfied with the wise and kindly 
government of the province by William Penn. The Founder's experience had created and de- 
veloped within him feeling of fellowship with all those who endured hardship for conscientious 
faithfulness to their religious beliefs. He had a personal acquaintance with the persecuted sects 
of Continental Europe for in 1677 he had crossed to Holland and Germany, with George Keith, 
Robert Barclay and others, and had done much proselyting work. That was after he had 
secured an interest in the Jersey plantations, and doubtless he had talked much in his European 
trips about his purpose to secure lands and establish a haven of religious freedom in America. 
Penn not only communed with the Quakers of Rotterdam. Amsterdam, Leyden and other places 
where congregations had been established on the continent, but also got in touch with the Men- 
nonites and other separatist sects of Germany. Quite a number of the Mennonites had become 



80 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Quakers, and in various parts of Europe Quakers, Mennonites, Labadists and other sects who 
attracted the attention of the authorities by their preaching, their strictness of hfe or their prac- 
tice of the doctrine of non-resistance were the objects of cruel persecution. 

Some of the people of these sects had been in America, a Labadist community in 1680 in 
Maryland, and in 1662 a company of Mennonites had settled at Horekills, on the lower Dela- 
ware, under the leadership of Pieter Cornelis Plockhoy, of Zierik Zee, but were despoiled of all 
their property in 1664 by Sir Richard Carr, sent by Governor NicoUs, after the capture of New 
York, to secure the submission of the Dutch and Swedes on the Delaware. There was there- 
fore, among these persecuted people a considerable knowledge of the resources and possibilities 
of the country bordering on the Delaware, and also of the great boon which a government 
pledged and bound to the principles of civil and religious liberty would be to them. 

The fact that Penn had become the proprietor of the colony wvas, to the people of the con- 
tinental countries in which he had previously carried on his religious propaganda, a sufficient 
guarantee that his program of brotherly kindness and exact justice would be scrupulously car- 
ried out. There were, therefore, many Germans and Dutch who recognized the new province as 
a place of refuge against the persecutions and contumely wdth which they were forced to contend 
in Europe. Industrious, earnest and full of faith and zeal these people were in every way such 
as Penn desired to make up the citizenship of his colony. 

After Markham had been sent by Penn to take possession of the colony on behalf of the 
proprietor, the latter remained in England in order to make the attractions of his colony known 
to desfrable settlers, and especially to such people of industrious habits and godly lives as he 
thought would make the best permanent residents. In this his first choice naturally fell upon his 
co-religionists in the various sections of the British Isles, and after that he thought of the many 
who, in Holland and Germany, had been so sympathetic to his views a few years before. 

To them, therefore, he sent news of his proprietorship of the new province and of the new 
principles which were to actuate its government. The message soon found acceptance from many 
of those addressed. At Crefeld on the Rhine, where was a population made up in large degree of 
weavers and other textile workers, of whom many were Mennonites and some Quakers, the re- 
sponse was prompt. These people determined to send some of their number to recruit the new 
colony, and, as the first step, to secure some property there upon the favorable terms which 
offered to "first purchasers" of large tracts the additional inducement of ownership of city lots. 
Therefore the first of the German purchasers of Pennsylvania land were three of these Crefeld 
people, each of whom was purchaser of five thousand acres: Jacob Telner (who had been to 
America before) ; Jan Streypers and Dirck Sipman, the conveyances to whom were signed by 
Penn on March 10, 1682. At Frankfort in the same year eight persons— Mennonites, Quaker 
converts and mystics — organized the Frankfort Company. Its members were people whom 
Penn had visited on his religious mission a few years before. They also had been made 
acquainted with the spiritual as well as the practical ideals of Penn's new colony and aimed to 
participate in them. 

Francis Daniel Pastorius, scholar and lawyer, poet, historian and educator, returned to 
Frankfort in November, 1682, from two years of travel and learned of the Frankfort Company. 
Pie became enthusiastic about the new colony, and connected himself with the Frankfort organi- 
zation, taking an active part in its affairs. He went to London as its agent and bought in May 
and June, 1683, a tract of fifteen thousand acres, which he later increased to twenty-five thou- 
sand acres. 

In June, 1683, he sailed for Philadelphia, the first of the German settlers of Germantown. 
He was followed by many others and this emigration did a great thing for Pennsylvania in in- 
troducing one of the best elements of its citizenship. He was quickly followed by others, thu"- 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 81 

teen German families from Crefeld being included among thcjse who went out on the ship Concord 
from London. July 24. 1683. in company with James Clapoole, Penn's friend, who came over, 
l)ringing his family, on that same voyage. 'Ihe shi]) arrived on October 6, the (ierman contin- 
gent having been increased by one, born to the wife of Johannes Rleikers on the voyage. 

( )n ( )ctober 12 I'retorius received a warrant for six thousand acres of land, of which five 
thousand three hundred and twenty acres were laid off by Thomas Fairman. The division took 
place on October 2'5, in a cave occupied by Pastorius, the lots being drawn for by the advent- 
urers. The settlers dug in for the winter and suffered much hardship, hut they were an indus- 
trious and thrifty people and (iermantown soon became known for the efficiency of its civic 
organization, the rapid building up of its industries and the quality of its inhabitants. Jacob 
Telner. a Crefeld man who had been one of the grantees in Penn's deed of March 10. 1682, 
came to (iermantown early in 1684 and became a leader among the settlers. He had been for 
some years a merchant in Amsterdam, with a large business and connections that enabled him to 
be of great service in colonization, as well as a good deal of practical knowledge about America, 
which he had visited before. He was a devout Mennonite. and influential in church as well as 
civic matters. He remained in Germantown for thirteen years. 

Among the early German colonists were the founders of families that have long l)een prom- 
inent in the annals of the city, state and nation. William Rittenhuysen. who arrived in 1687 
was a Mennonite preacher, but of a family which had for several generations been engaged in 
papermaking, and in 1690 he erected on the Wissahickon the first paper mill in the colonies. 
His son. David, whose surname took its modern form of "Rittenhouse." Ix^came an astn^nomer 
of international fame. 




Thk Shiki.d Passing thk Site of Phil,adei,phia 

Another national strain which was of much importance in connection with the building up 
of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania was that of the Welsh, who came in considerable numbers at 
a time contemporaneous with the (ierman settlement. The hrst Welsh landed in Chester, and 
settled in Radnor. Merion and Haverford. Other arrivals settled in various places west of the 
."Schuylkill. Some of them made their homes m Philadelphia. The earlier Welsh immigrants 
were Quakers among whom Penn had establislied great fa\or. and had found many of his 
strongest friends. 

In the summer of 1684 Penn found it necessary to return to England, where some of his 
affairs were in a condition needing his attention. Another reason for wishing to go then was 
the necessity of securing a settlement of his boundaries with Lord Baltimore, whose agents had 
invaded the lower counties, built a fort within five miles of New Castle and were collecting taxes 
and rents and dispossessing tenants in that region. Penn commissioned the Provincial Council 
to act in his stead leaving the Great Seal in charge of Thomas Lloyd, president of the Council. 



82 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



He addressed a circular letter to the Friends of the Province, exhorting^ them to faithfulness 
and assuring them of prosperity if they improved the precious opportunities that were in their 
hands. He went to England on the ketch Endeavor, sailing from Philadelphia, August 12, 1684, 
sending from that vessel a parting letter to his especial friends, Thomas Lloyd, James Clay- 
poole. John Simcock. Christopher Taylor and James Harrison, expressive of his personal affec- 
tion for them and his faith in their fulfillment of the onerous duties laid upon them, concluding 
the letter with a prayer for the welfare of Philadelphia '"virgin settlement of the Province, 
named before thou wert born." 

When Penn went away he expected to return very soon to Philadelphia. He arrived in 
England on October 3, 1684. but conditions and cares cast their burdens upon him so that he 
was not able to come back to Philadelphia for fifteen years. 




c 



H 



A 



E 



R 



S 



X 




Treaty Monument 



DOINGS IN PHILADELPHIA WHILE PENN WAS AWAY 

The departure of I'enn wrought a considerable amount of demorahzation to the o-o\- 
ernnient of his province. The i)roprietor was a peace maker. Init there was a good deal of 
belligerency in the cliaracter and temperament of those wliom he left in charge of things. 

While there were only a few measures of real 
importance enacted by the Council and Assem- 
bly during the hfteen years of Penn's absence 
there was much of quarreling in each of these 
bodies, and between them, as to the border-line 
of their respecti\e prerogative and authority. 

Penn himself was in a good deal of trou- 
ble in iMigland. After his return from Amer- 
ica he resumed his place at the Court, which 
was a most influential one, and became an 
advocate of justice and humanity- who was 
frequently able to give valuable aid to worthy 
causes. James II needed Protestant friends 
very Ijadly and Penn was on stich intimate 
terms with that king that he was able to save 
James from man}- an unwise act. Penn was 
genuinely friendly to James, who had been his partner and a potent factor in the securing of 
his title to his colony of Pennsylvania, and was much distressed as he saw the rising of the 
storm of pul)lic disappro\"al which the people of Britain showed as the monarch's acts of des- 
potism and arrogant folly outraged the liberties and privileges of the people, political and 
religious. The main grievances held against James by his subjects were his eitort to reestab- 
lish Roman Catholicism as the State Church of England, and the upbuilding of monarchical 
as against parliamentary power. On November 5, 1688. William, of Orange, who had married 
Princess AIar\-. daughter of King James, and a Protestant princess, landed with his troops at 
Torba}-, and in December James fled to France. On February 13, 1689. William and Mary 
were proclaimed king and queen of Great Britain. 

The abdication of James left a cloud of suspicion over all who had been active or influen- 
tial at his court. Penn was accused of treason and sufifered much persecution until after 
e\ery endeavor to invohe him had failed and the charges dismissed. Penn's ])ersonal friend- 
ship for the discredited monarch was frankly avowed, while he was shown to have had neither 
])art nor sympathy with any of the despotic or unconstitutional acts of James, (^ther sorrows 
pressed upon him to add to the poignancy of his distress. His wife died, his son had taken 
up with e\il courses, his steward had robbed and betrayed him, his debts pressed upon him. 
ajid reduced him to po\erty. Later with charges of treason dismissed, debts cleared up, and a 
prosperous turn to his affairs, he married a second wife, and after fifteen years of absence 
returned to his colony. 

Meanwhile affairs in Pennsylvania were complicated by the changing fortunes and fluctuat- 
ing authority of the proprietary, and Philadelphia felt, in special degree, the absence of the 
peace-making talents and harmonizing abilities of its Founder. Even during his absence Penn, 
who through correspondence kept up a very complete and accurate acquaintance with the trend 



84 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



of Philadelphia affairs, was very solicitous for the material, political and moral welfare of the 
Province. During the first three winters of t'.ie settlement of Philadelphia the new settlers 
found much comfort in a number of caves which had been made near the river banks, at some 
not far distant period, by the Indians of the region. These caves enabled the settlers to tide 
over the winter months until returning spring made it possible for them to assemble material 
and build for themselves permanent homes or temporary shelters. In 1685 these caves had be- 
come taverns and low resorts and word went to Penn as to the character they had acquired. 
One of the most flagrant oft'enders was Joseph Knight, a tavern-keeper, who was presented by 
the Grand jury in 1685 as keeper of a disorderly house, with the result not only of his. con- 
viction, but also the destruction of the whole cave nuisance by the filling in of the caves. 

Penn, during the first few years after his return to England in 1684, gave much attention 
to the material needs of Pennsylvania, and made numerous shipments of merchandise to Phila- 
delphia, notably seeds and trees for planting and considerable quantities of wnne and. beer. 
The Governor, Council and Assembly continued to quarrel among themselves, raising issues 
involving a struggle between the representatives of the freemen of the province and those who 
were identified with the personal interests and proprietary prerogatives of Penn. The latter 
showed little of the spirit of conciliation, and did much to create a hostile feeling among the 
people of the province, which led many of them to withhold rents and refrain from purchases, 
so that the proprietor's income from his province was greatly reduced. Nor were the evil 
effects of these bickerings confined to the residents of the colony, for Penn, writing to Lloyd 
in 1686, declared that these quarrels had lost the province fully fifteen thousand emigrants who 
had intended to migrate to Pennsylvania, but had heard so much of the disorders there that 
they had changed their plans and sailed for North Carolina instead. 

The town of Philadelphia grew, in spite of these drawbacks, and among the things of 
value which were done during this period in behalf of the city were several relating to trans- 
portation facilities, notably in the action of the Council in 1685, providing for a ferry trans- 
fer of people, horses and cattle across the Schuylkill at High (now Market) Street. The lay- 
ing out of roads between the city of Philadelphia and its surrounding country, for which there 
was a great demand, was taken up with some vigor in 1687, and the marking of the harbor 
and channels by buoys also received proper attention. The first permanent jail was erected in 
1687 on Second Street, near Market Street, to take the place of the temporary "cage" which 
William Clayton had built for the detention of lawbreakers in 1683. 

Penn, who when he went away, had left the executive power of the province in the hands of 
the Council, became so dissatisfied with the way things had gone in the colony that he took 
the executive functions away from that body in February. 1687, and conferred them upon a 
Commission, of which the members were Thomas Lloyd, Nicholas More, James Claypoole, 
Robert Turner and John Eckley, any three of these to have power to act. To these he gave 
strong and explicit instructions in order to put a stop to the dissensions that had been so rife 
since he had left the province. In Penn's name they were to disavow all laws passed since his 
absence, and they were to call a new Assembly to repass, modify and alter the laws. They 
were not to permit any disorders, either in Council or Assembly, nor allow any parleys or con- 
ferences between the two houses, and were to carefully uphold their own official dignity. 
Although dated February, 1687, the commission was not received in Philadelphia until Feb- 
ruary, 1688, by which time two of the designated members of the Commission, Nicholas More 
and James Claypoole. had died. Arthur Cook and John Simcock were named in their stead. 

The expedient of a Commission did not work well. New members of the Council and 
Assembly were no better disposed toward harmony than the others, and both resented the 
claims to executive authority on the part of Penn's Commission. The Assembly swore its 
members to divulge none of its proceedings, and held almost all of its sessions secret. The 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



85 



Council claimed executive privileoes. The people of the i)ro\ince were, for the most part, dis- 
satisfied because their rulers, so far as the more important public interests were concerned, 
were hand-picked, and the freemen of the province were clamorous for a directly representa- 
tive government. News of the failure of his Commission plan reached Penn in short order, 
and before the year 1688 closed he sent out a new governor for the Province. John lUackwell. 
who had been an officer under Cromwell and the Commonwealth. 

Governor Blackwell had found his official duties beset with trouble and opposition. Thomas 
Lloyd, who had possession of the Great Seal of Pennsylvania, refused to surrender it to Black- 
well, or to affix it to any of his documents. A contention arose as to the authority of Black- 
well, the claims being made that he was not governor, because under the charter Penn was not 
empowered to appoint a governor, but only a deputy governor. Blackwell had not the tem- 
perament for a successful executive and became thoroughly tired of his job and wrote to Penn, 
asking to be relieved, and when he was recalled in January, 1690, Blackwell rejoiced at the 
news. i 

The dethronement of James II and the accession of William and Mary had occurred a 
few months before the recall of Blackwell. In making the recall Penn had suggested that 
the Council name three men from whom he might select one as governor. But the Council 
decided that no governor was needed and selected Thomas Lloyd as its president. The Coun- 




Bettering House and Pennsylvania Hospital (at the right) on Spruce Street 

Before the Revolution 

cil. however, did not delegate executive power t > him. except in a formal way. and the need of 
more explicit authority led Penn to commission Lloyd as deputy governor of Pennsyhania 
in 1691. At the same time, to appease the clamor of the lower Counties (now Delaware) for 
a government of their own, Penn appointed William Markham. deputy governor of ihc Ter- 
ritories, as those Lower Counties were called. 

The most important event of this period was the establishing in 1689 of the first public 
school in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. It was a grammer school, and was put in charge of 
George Keith, a member of the Society of Friends. He was a native of Aberdeen, had been 
trained in the schools of the Church of Scotland and graduated from the University of Aber- 
deen. Embracing the doctrines and faith of the Quakers he sufifered so much persecution that 
in 1684 he came to America, settling in Jersey until he became principal of the Friends' School 
in Philadelphia in 1689. He became interested in religious controversy, so left the school in 
charge of Thomas Makin, who became principal in his stead. Keith went to New England and 



86 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



engaged in polemical discussion with John Cotton and Increase Mather. After this he engaged 
in religious controversies with members of his own sect, went to England and disputed with 
Penn. who pronounced him an apostate and dismissed him from the Society. Keith then formed 
a society of his own. known as the Christian or Baptist Quakers, but popularly known as 
Keithians. His views becoming further modified he took orders in the Church of England, 
was sent to America by the Society for Propagating the (iospel and did a successful work in 
New Jersey and Pennsylvania, seven hundred Quakers under his influence receiving baptism 
in the Episcopal Church. He returned to England, becoming rector of Edburton, Sussex and 
noted as scholar, writer and preacher. He died in his rectory in 1715 at the age of seventy. 

This first school in Philadelphia flourished for a long time and was the alma mater of many 
notable Philadelphians of the Eighteenth Century. It was later chartered with Samuel Carpenter, 
Anthony Morris, Edward Shippen, James Fox, David Lloyd, William Southby. John Jones and 
other prominent citizens of that day as overseers, the charter being issued by the Council of 
the Province on February 12. 1698, as "the public school founded in Philadelphia at the request, 
cost and charges of the people of God called Quakers." Thomas Makin, Keith's successor, 
remained at the head of the school for several years, and filled the place acceptably. He is 
listed in the annals of American literature as one of our early poets, on the strength of two 
indififerent Latin poems, addressed to James Logan, which were found among Makin's papers 
following his death in 1773. They are entitled, "Encomium Pennsylvanise" and 'Tn laudes 
Pennsylvania poema, seu descriptio Pennsylvania?." The second, with an English translation, is 
printed in Proud's History of Pennsylvania (1797-8). 

Although Penn had, after his first troubles following the abdication of James, seemed to 
have satisfied the authorities of his loyalty, and his innocence of any political plotting, he chose 
to keep up a correspondence with King James, who had become practically a pensioner of Louis 
Quatorze, of France. 

When James, with a military force invaded Ireland in 1690, Penn paid him a visit, after 
which he was arrested and imprisoned. There was no proof that he had plotted against Will- 







Arrival of Governor Fletcher 

iam in favor of James, but he was under suspicion and practically in hiding for three years 
During this period the charges against Penn led the king to seize Pennsylvania and take steps 
for its government as a royal colony. In 1692 a patent was issued to Benjamin Fletcher, then 
governor of the Province of New York, to take control of Pennsylvania. So on April 26, 
1693, (iovernor Fletcher appeared in Philadelphia and. conducted by the sheriff, went to the 
market place at the foot of High (Market) Street, wliere the letters-patent of their majesties. 



THE SrORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



87 



William and Mary, appointing Fletcher "captain-general and governor-in-chief of the Province 
of New York. Province of Pennsylvania, and Cotmty of New Castle, etc.." were read to the 
people. 

Fletcher invited Thomas Lluyd to become lieutenant-governor, but he declinetl the posi- 
tion. William Markham was then asked to take it and accepted it, with the understanding that 
he should preside during the absence of Governor Fletcher in New York. Few of the Quakers 
would accept oftice under Fletcher, all being loyal to Penn, who had not been legally dispossessed. 
In the effort to convert Pennsylvania from a proprietary to a royal colony the king had ex- 
cused his action on military gnnmds only. W'ar with France impended, and Pennsylvania. 




Slate-Roof Housf: 



though asked to do so. had ignored the king's request for n]en and money to be applied to war 
against France and against the Indians on the frontier. Fletcher urged the Pennsylvanians 
along these lines, btit they were Quakers and pacifists, and the Assembly turned a deaf ear to his 
appeals. Fletcher, however, repealed quite a num])er of the laws under which Pennsylvania had 
been governed, and the colonists of the province were very much dissatisfied. 

A personality much in evidence in the history of that period is that of William Bradford. 
the first printer of the colony, who came to Philadelphia in 1685 with a letter from (ieorge Fox, 
who commended him as a proper person "to set up the trade of printing Friends' books." His was 
the only press then set up anywhere in America between Boston and Mexico City. His hrst 
issue was a pamphlet of twenty pages entitled. "'J he Kalendarium Pennsilvaniense, or Amer- 
ica's Messenger, Being an Almanack for the year 1686. Published for Samuel .\tkins." In 
an enumeration of the number of years since tlie occurrence of certain events, from Noah's 
flood on, it included "The beginning of government here by the Lord Penn, 5." The designa- 
tion of Penn in that way offended the authorities and Samuel Atkins was admonished to "blot 
out ye words Lord Penn." Bradforrl was also called to task and ordered that he should not 
print anything thereafter without "lycence from ye Council." 

\Mien Bradford afterward printed a copy of Penn's "Frame of Government" he was 
called to task for it by (Governor Blackwell. whose view of the matter was that while the infor- 
mation might l)e fit for the people of the province to know (which they could easily do by 
getting access to the of^cial copy), it "would be of ill consequence to be known to others and 



88 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



possibly might bring the proprietor's title into question." Bradford was called before the 
Council and was the center of a bitter dispute. He found himself, at various other times, in 
trouble with the Council. 

lie ])roposed to print a Bible in 1688, if enough of the Quakers could be induced to sub- 
scribe for it, but they failed to rise to this opportunity. So Bradford confined his attention 
for a time to miscellaneous printing. But George Keith, who had been principal of the school 
and quit it to engage in controversy, first with the Puritans of New England and later with 
his co-religionists, jniblished several pamphlets on support of his contentions. One of these, 
issued in 1692, was '"An Appeal to the Yearly Meeting," with Bradford's imprint. It con- 
tained some quite vigorous statements about the Quaker authorities in Pennsylvania, among 
others one to the effect that they had violated the pacifist principles of the Quakers by aiding 
in the capture of a privateer. This and other statements were branded as malicious and scan- 
dalous. Bradford's ])ress and materials were seized and he was imprisoned. His trial was 
delayed, but when it finally came on (lovernor Fletcher presided. Bradford was acquitted, but 
thoroughly discouraged and decided to abandon the printing business in Philadelphia. Gov- 
ernor Fletcher, however, persuaded him to remove to New York, where the Provincial Council 
had passed a resolution to employ a public printer and pay him a salary of forty pounds per 
annum. He was a])pointed royal ])rinter and entered on his duties in New York on April 10, 
1693. He served in that caj^acity for more than fifty years, and died in New York, May 23, 
1752, aged eignty-nine years. His press was a busy one for those days, and all of the publi- 
cations bearing his imprint are much prized by collectors of American, the earlier ones bringing 
large sums in the auctions of such iniblications. 

While Bradford was in Philadelphia he became interested in the founding of a paper mill, 
the active manager of which was William Ryttinghuisen, or Rittenhouse, a Mennonite preacher 
who had. on Penn's invitation come from Holland. The mill \vas on a rivulet which took the 
name of Paper Mill Run. and which ran to join the Wissahickon through what is now a part 
of Germantown. 1'be ])a])cr was made from rags j^ounded by heavy hammers in iron or stone 
mortars into pulj) which were moulded into sheets. It was a slow process, and even a very 
small quantity of the i)roduct represented several days' work. It supplied the paper used by 
Bradford while in Philadelphia and for several years after his removal to New York. The 
mill was destroyed Ijy a freshet in 1700, but was rebuilt upon a larger scale and continued in 
active business for al)out a hundred years more. William Rittenhouse, the founder, was the 
first bishop of the Mennonite Church and died in 1708. His descendants attained much prom- 
inence, the most noted being his grandson, David Rittenhouse, the famous astronomer. 

The (ierman settlement of Pennsylvania, which may be said to have begun when Francis 
Daniel Pastorius, with nine servants and companions arrived in Philadelphia on the America, from 
Deal, England, in 1683, had steadily grown. They congregated in the section in which Pastor- 
ius and his first settlers made their home and Germantown became an important and populous 
place, each year having considerable additions of German and Dutch emigrants, chiefly Mennon- 
ites. In 1691 the town was incorporated as a borough, under a special charter granted by 
William TVnn, with the corporate name of "the Bailifife, Burgesses and Comonalty of German- 
town in the County of Philadelphia, in the Province of Pennsylvania,"- Pastorius becoming the 
first bailifi". Sixty-four of the men of Germantown were naturalized as British subjects in 1691 
by Go\ernor Thomas Lloyd. 

There was a grist-mill on Wingohocking Creek about a mile northeast of Germantown. It 
had been established in 1683 by Richard Townsend, an English millwright, who came with 
William Penn on the Welcome. It was afterward called Robert's Mill and did a thriving 
business. There had l)een two grist mills in the colonv before this one, both in the Swedish 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 89 

settlements, one on Cobb's Creek and the other on Frank ford Creek, but Robert's Mill served 
a much larger custom. The linen-weaving industry was established in (iermantown by the early 
settlers, and found its chief market in the semi-annual fairs in Philadelj)hia. The returns were 
not very large, for the area of sales was restricted by lack of transportation facilities. But 
the industrious weavers of Germantown persisted, and their work was the foundation of the 
great position held by Philadelphia now as a leading center of textile industries. 

The Swedes, who had been the earliest Europeans to make their homes in what is now 
Pennsylvania, continued in harmonious relations with their neighbors, l^ev. Jacob Fabritius, 
a Hollander, who had come to them as pastor in 1677, continued in that capacity until his death 
in 1691, although he became blind in 1682. Left without a pastor, they appealed to Sweden, and 
the request finally reaching Charles XI, he put the Swedes in America under the care of the 
Archbishop of Upsala. The negotiations took a long time. l)ut in 1696 the arch])isho]) sent three 
missionaries, Andrew Rudman, Eric Bjork and Jonas Auren, who came with a large supply 
of bil)les and religious Ijooks, and after a delay in London, they took ship to Virginia. From 
the X'irginian coast they came up in a shallop into the Delaware, visiting Hrst the old church 
on Christina Creek. This church was so surrounded by low lands that when the river over- 
flowed them, which was not infrequently the case, the parishioners had to wade hi|)-deep to 
reach it. As the missionaries were eye-witnesses of this condition they made it their first busi- 
ness to urge their Swedish friends to Innld a new one, which they did. The l)uilding is still 
standing in Wilmington. Delaware. 

Proceeding up the river the missionaries were welcomed Ijy the Swedes residing in the 
vicinity of Philadelphia, who readily fell into the plans of their ministerial guests and took up 
the matter of providing a new church home. These Swedes had. from 1669. been worship- 
ping in the old block house at Wicaco, half a mile below Philadelphia. A new church was a 
necessity, all agreed, but as to location there was about an even weight of opinion, divided 
between Wicaco and Passyunk. It was agreed to decide it by lot, and the -lames of the two 
places were written on folded slips and placed in a hat. After prayers the slips were shaken 
in a hat and thrown on the floor. Andrew Rudman, who had been selected as pastor of this 
church, was assigned to the picking up of the paper, and as he picked that bearing the word 
'AVicaco" that place was chosen. The men who had worked as bricklayers and carpenters on 
the church at Wilmington were brought to Wicaco and there built the Gloria Dei. or Old 
Swedes' Church. It was dedicated in 1700. The buildings erected by the Swedes, both at 
Wilmington and Wicaco, were the finest in the colonies at the time of their completion, and 
Eric Bjork wrote in triumphant terms to his sui)eriors in Sweden that the Swedes had so much 
finer churches than their English neighbors, who were so much richer. 

The laws passed in these early days of Pennsylvania were largely restrictive of social cus- 
toms, such as the law passed in 1696 providing that "no person shall presume to smoak tobacco 
in the street, either by night or day." This, however, seems to have been a measure of fire- 
prevention, as the fine for the offense, twelve pence each, was to be applied to the purchase of 
"leather buckets and instruments or engines against fires." 

The town-market was the most important center of activity in those days. It was first held 
at the intersection of High and Front Streets, occupying there a spacious grass plot, but in 1693 
it was moved to the intersection of High and Second Streets. It was open on Wednesdays and 
Saturdays. Vendors of meats, fruits and dairy products could sell on other days if they wished, 
but nothing could be sold in the town outside of the Market House. On regular market days 
large numbers of men and women came with their produce, using wagons or bringing their 
wares in big panniers on the horses' backs. Besides the white people, Indians also came to the 



90 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



market bringing with them for sale roots, herbs, berries, skins, baskets and other articles of 
Indian production or workmanship. 

One of the notable events of the period of Penn's absence from Philadelphia was the 
improvement of the inter-colonial postal system under the initiative of Governor Fletcher, of 
New York, to whom also the government of Pennsylvania was confided during the period that 
Penn was under a political cloud. Post routes were opened up from New York to New England 
and to \'irginia. via Philadelphia. This postal service was in 1693 placed in charge of Andrew 
Hamilton, one of the distinguished colonists of the period, who had been one of the proprietors 
of East Jersey and after that governor of East and West Jersey, his appointment by Fletcher 
naming him "postmaster-general in these parts." The New York Assembly fixed the rates he 




Eari.v Vikw on the Delaware River 



might charge for carrying and delivering letters, whicli at first were, from L'hiladelphia : 4^^ 
pence to New York; 9 pence to Connecticut; 12 |)ence to Rhode Island; 13 pence to Boston, 
and to points North and East of Boston, 19 pence; to Lewes. Maryland and \'irginia. 9 pence, 
and to all points within 80 miles of Philadelphia 4>1 pence. 

In addition to these fees he was given certain privileges, including free passage for his })ost- 
riders across all ferries. But Hamilton, like the railway companies of the present day, was dis- 
satisfied with the rates of mail pay, and on his contention that he could make no money at the 
rates indicated l)y the Assembly, he asked for and was allowed to collect higher rates to the 
Northern Colonies from Philadelphia, as follows: To New York, 8 pence; to Connecticut, 1 
shilling; t(^ Rhode Island or Boston, 18]jence; beyond Boston, 2 shillings; and the postage on 
letters to and from places within an 80-mile radius from Philadelphia was raised from 4J^ 
pence to 6 pence and, further, the postmaster was to receive an annual salary of £20 from the 
colonv. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



91 



The colony had missed Penn while he was away and passing through vicissitudes that tried 
him severely. He had planned for his town very wisely, and had hoped to combine within its 
bounds the advantages of city and country. He had planned for it to be a city of homes. "Let 
every house," he said, "be placed in the middle of its plat as to the breadth way of it, that so there 
may be ground on each side of it for gardens, orchards or fields; that it may be a 'Greene Coun- 
try' and always wholesome and not subject to fire." 

In the fifteen years of his absence there had come up many events which had not coincided 
very closely with the ideals he had in view for his city, but he had still kept in sufficiently close 
touch with the province and its leaders to hold a large place in the loyal and loving opinion of 
a majority of the inhabitants. They had heard of his trials and his sacrifices. He had left a 
small place with a few houses and numerous dug-outs and shanties. He had come back to a 
city much larger, with brick houses, some of which could lay claim to elegance. One of these 
was Edwin Shippen's "CJreat House" in Second Street, below Dock Street, on the West Side, 
which lay out of the city as bounded in those days. 

Besides the Quakers, whose influence was still dominant in the city, churches of other 
denominations had been established. The Swedes continued their houses of worship, and their 
new church, Gloria Dei, or "Old Swedes' Church" (as it is now called) at Wicaco had just been 
dedicated; and the small church which was the forerunner of the present Christ Church (Epis- 
copal) had been completed in 1696 as the result of the pious efiforts of some members of the 
Church of England. It is a notable fact that although all the colonies south of Canada to Florida 
were British, Christ Church in Philadelphia was then, and for a considerable time thereafter, 
the only Episcopal Church betvveen New York and Virginia. 

Baptists and Presbyterians had societies, but no church buildings, and the two denomina- 
tions divided a store between them for use at designated times for worship under the ministra- 
tion of itinerant preachers. Freedom of religious belief was one of the cornerstones upon 
which Penn had founded his province and city, and remains a principle for which Philadelphia has 
stoutlv maintained the ideal of its founder. 




British Barracks, Northerx Liberties 



H A P T E R SEVEN 



PENN'S SECOND VISIT AND LATER GOVERNMENT 

In I'enn's fifteen years of absence from his province he had experienced many trials. His 
wife, a woman of much personal beauty and noble character, who had been Penn's mainstay 
when misfortunes had befel bim, had died in 1694. and his eldest son, Springett. died two years 
later from consumption. The daughter. Letitia. and the younger son, William Penn. Jr.. sur- 
vived. William Penn. after two years" bereavement, married a second time, his choice falling 
upon Hannah Callowhill, daughter of Thomas Callowhill. a Bristol merchant. 

Accompanied by his wife, Hannah, and his daughter, Letitia. Penn embarked on the ship 
Canterbury, September 3, 1699. for America. The voyage was long and tedious, for it was 
eighty-nine days later, on Thursday, November 30, when the ship dropped into the Delaware and 
anchored in front of Chester. The arrival of the proprietor was greeted by a salute in which, 
unfortunatelv, a gunner's hand was shot ofif. Penn saw that he received the best professional 
aid then available in the colony, but the poor fellow died a few months later from the infections 
that followed the wound. 

In Chester Penn stayed a few days, enjoying there the hospitality of Mrs. Robert Wade, 
widow of an old friend. He also found there Thomas Story, a prominent English Quaker, who 
was also a much-esteemed personal friend of Penn's. Story had left England to visit the Quaker 
meetings of the Carolinas and other southern colonies on a preaching tour, and coming thence 
to Philadelphia had met and married a daughter of Edward Shippen, the first mayor of Phila- 
delphia. 

Returning to the ship again. Penn arrived at Philadelphia on Sunday. December 3, 1699, 
and was greeted with great cordialitv. Although there were many who had hoped to take the 
l)roprietorshii» from Penn and make it a royal province, the Quakers, the Germans and a 
majority of the citizens of Philadelphia hoped s^reat things from the return of Penn to his prov- 
ince. The work he had done on his former visit in setting the city and pro\'ince in order, was 
remembered through the years of his absence, when petty official disagreements and jealousies 
had worked havoc with municipal harmony and divided the people into various factions. When 
Penn came back there were high hopes that faction would abate its animosities, and, therefore, it 
was an enthusiastic crowd that greeted the proprietor as he landed. It was noted, with satisfac- 
tion, that Colonel Robert Quarry, appointed direct from London in 1697 as judge of admiralty, 
with jurisdiction in l)oth New York and Pennsylvania, and John Moore, an advocate in his court, 
were among those who were most cordial in their greetings to the proprietor, for these men had 
been most hostile to the interests of Penn and his friends during the founder's absence. Many 
of the crowd followed at Penn's heels while he ])aid a visit of respect to Lieutenant Governor 
Markham, and afterward as he went from Markham's house to the new Friends' Meeting House 
at Second and High (Market) streets. There, at the afternoon meeting, Penn preached and 
made supplication for God's blessing on his promise. After the service he went, at Edward 
Shippen's invitation, to take up his abode at the Shippen home, popularly known as "The Great 
House." He remained there for a month, and then rented from Samuel Carpenter the Slate Roof 
House, a large old-fashioned structure of fort-like appearance, which was then the largest house 
in Philadelphia. It was in that house that, after a few weeks' residence, Hannah Callowhill 
Penn. second wife of the founder, gave birth to her first child, John Penn, afterward known as 
"the American." 

The summer preceding Penn's return was one of great affliction for many families in Phila- 
delphia who had lost members in the scourge then known as the "Barbadoes distemper," but 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



93 



which was, without doubt, a form of yellow fever. That summer of lo99 was the hrst visit of 
the scourge which had many recurrences during the following century. Pcnn resumed his 
functions as governor without any opposition although there had been some talk before he 
returned about contesting his right to that office. The details of administration were left in 
Markham's hands, but Penn, fully informed of the movements directed against his government, 
kept in touch with the people by conferences and meetings, visiting many places through Penn- 
sylvania and the lower counties (Delaware), and preaching at the Quaker meetings. The Leg- 
islature, under his call, met now at Philadelphia and again at New Castle. One of the laws 
passed bv the Assembly in 1700 was a quarantine measure which provided that "sickly vessels" 




CLARK'-S HALL OX CHESTNUT STREET ABOUT 1690 



should not discharge passengers or goods before they had "lain sometime to be purified." while 
infected ships were prohibited from coming within one mile of Philadelphia or any other port in 
the province or the lower counties. When masters could show clean bills of health, they were to 
receive licenses from the Governor and Council in Philadelphia, or from the justices of the 
peace of Chester or New Castle before they could land passengers or cargoes. 

In the spring of 1700 Penn and his family moved from the city to his estate at Pennsbury. 
upon which so much money had been expended and upon which constantly improving care had 
been taken. He still retained the Slate Roof House as a city residence. \Miile in luigland Penn 
had sent over grapevines to be planted by James Harrison, his steward, and John Sotcher, who 
had succeeded Harrison in that capacity, and these were now in full bearing. Penn had great 
hopes for the future of grape culture in Pennsylvania, and engaged a French vine culturist to aid 
his elTorts in that direction. 1)ut the death of that expert soon afterward proved fatal to the 

enterprise. 

Robert Quarry, the admiralty judge, had from his first appointment to that office, been a 
critic of the "proprietary governments of America, and in i)articular of the government of Penn- 
sylvania, to which his objections were both religious and political, as well as in some degree per- 
sonal toward Penn and his friends. Quarry and Moore were hostile to the Society of Friends, 
and wished the Church of England to be established in America, as in England. They were 
opposed to proprietary government in any of the |)rovinces. and Quarry was in constant com- 



94 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



mutiication with the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Foreign Plantations with complaints 
and arguments. He knew the American colonial governments very intimately, having been gov- 
ernor of South Carolina, and he was a member of at least four of the colonial councils, simultan- 
eously, as a representative of the crown in matters related to shipping and maritime law. 

The appointment of Quarry to the head of admiralty affairs in New York, the Jerseys and 
Pennsylvania arose from the outcry against piracy, which arose about 1696. These colonies had 
gained the reputation of collusion with the pirates and harboring and encouraging them in their 
nefarious traffic. The piracy of that time, which had become outbreaking and flagrant, was an 
evolution from privateering. In that period all the maritime nations commissioned privateers 
as media of eft'ective warfare, and regarded the practice as a perfectly legitimate one. But the 
working out of the system led out into piracy in very many instances. The end of a war made 
the business of a privateer internationally unlawful, but at the same time the privateer who turned 
pirate made more money in time of peace than in war. While he was a privateer he might make 
great profits when he looted enemy ships, but he divided profits with the king's treasury. When 
peace returned the merchants felt greater confidence, their galleons were more richly laden, and 
the pirate gained a greater prize. 

Governor Fletcher, of New York, had granted commissions as privateers to Thomas Tew, 
John Hoare, and others. When peace came they continued to operate, chiefly in the Red Sea 
and Indian Ocean, which combined the advantages (to the pirate) of a maximum of treasure 
with a minimum of armed protection. From the East the pirate ships came back heavily laden 
with cargoes of vast value, and found hidden havens on the wilderness coasts of New Jersey and 
Long Island. The pirate captains, arrayed in Oriental garb of much magnificence, became 
familiar features on the streets of New York, and, in less degree, in Philadelphia. Strange gold 
coins, with inscriptions in strange Oriental characters, rich silks and other articles of great value, 
including precious stones, appeared in these colonies. Governor Fletcher had been accused of 
being the boon companion of some of the pirates, and charges against him were pending in Lon- 
don. It was also thought that in the Quaker town of Philadelphia, the pirates did not lack for 
friends and helpers, who were willing to gain devious profit from piratical goods that came in 
without being burdened by the king's customs. 

Persistent reports in regard to the wholesale piracy that flaunted its gains in public brought 
a royal decree enlarging the jurisdiction of the court of admiralty, and the appointment of 
Quarry, in 1697, with a commission as judge of admiralty. He carried instructions to make 
special efforts to drive the pirates out of their safe havens on the coast, and to break up the com- 
plicity of officials and people with the nefarious traffic. In New York, Governor Fletcher's local 
enemies, some of whom had considerable influence at the Court of William and Mary, had 
secured the appointment of the Earl of Bellomont as governor, in place of Fletcher, in 1698. 

Quarry paid particular attention to the affairs of Pennsylvania, and injected a considerable 
amount of jjolitics and denominational ])rejudice into his acti\ities. He informed the Lords 
Commissioners that Pennsylvania had become the greatest refuge for rogues and pirates in 
America, which was very wide of the truth, for the ])irate ships seldom came up the Delaware, 
but liuried their treasures in accessible coves on the New Jersey coast. But a good deal of pirate 
booty was disposed of in Philadelphia, and the pirate x\very and his men made occasional visits to 
the city and had connections there. James Brown, who married Governor Markham's daughter, 
and had been a member of the Assembly from the Countv of Kent, was expelled, in 1698, as 
being an accomplice of the pirate Avery. Some of Avery's men were imprisoned in Phila- 
delphia and Birmingham, one of the men, intrusted his money to Governor Markham for safe- 
keeping, and it was complained by Quarry that these prisoners' confinement was a farce, as they 
were allowed to go about the streets at will. Excitement about piracv reached its height with 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



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96 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



the capture, in New York, in June. 1699, of James Kidd, who had been a much-esteemed priva- 
teer and became a pirate, and the excitement continued until after Kidd had been taken to Lon- 
don and hanged in chains at Iixecution Dock, in March, 1701. 

Penn was in a delicate position in relation to Quarry's activities. He was, of course, earn- 
estly opposed to piracy, and at his request the Assembly passed a rigorous law against it. But 
Quarry's opposition, and his charges sent to the Lords Commissioners were based on his own 
desire to be the leader of a Church of England ])arty which would take the reins of govern- 
ment out of the hands of the Quakers, on the ostensible ground that because of their pacifist 
principles the Pennsylvania government had no militia to defend the interests of Britons settled 
in the colony or seeking trade relations with it. In a case in which the colonial judges had 
claimed concurrent jurisdiction with his admiralty court. Quarry decided that the judges were 
without authoritv, because they had taken no oath of ofiice, but had merely affirmed their prom- 
ise to fulfill its duties. 

Penn was constantly called upon to answer complaints which had been lodged against him 
and his o-overnment in London. With regard to Markham the Board of Trade notified Penn 
that he should remove him and ap])oint a new lieutenant governor. Penn showed great tact 
in his attitude toward Quarry. Setting afoot stringent measures against piracy, he advised with 
the admiralty judge at every step, and took great care that the London authorities had full 
knowledge of his own ])art in the work for the sui)i)ression of piracy. Among the provisions he 
had incorporated into the law was one requiring that masters of vessels must declare who their 
passengers were before landing their ships and others requiring careful watching of strangers 
and the arrest and examination by magistrates of those who should be in possession of any 
East Indian, Arabian or other foreign goods or coins. 

David Lloyd was another element of trouble for Penn. He was a member of the Assembly 
with a large following of the younger element among the Quakers. He was bitterly opposed to 
Ouarry and the reactionarv ])()licies represented by him, and he championed democracy in gov- 
ernment and a constitution for the i)rovince which should give to the people the control of 
afi:airs. Lloyd was especially against a group of reactionaries in the Council, friends of Penn, 
who were constantly o{)posed to progress, and ris a result secured a reconstruction of the Coun- 
cil by Penn, but was himself soon disqualified as member of the Council because of charges filed 
by Quarry, to the efifect that Lloyd had insulted the Court and the Crown by some remarks he 
had made in the trial of a piracy case. 

Penn lived in considerable state at Penns bury and was severely criticised by those opposed 
to him. who charged him with showing lordly airs. Penn enjoyed himself thoroughly and would 
have chosen to remain with his colony for the rest of his life, but his wife and his daughter, Letitia, 
were both anxious to get back to England. They liked America until the novelty had worn off, 
and then began to long for home. Toward the last part of 1701 Penn decided to return to 
England and determined to call the Assembly together to pass some needed legislation, and which 
met on September 15, 1701. Penn addressed the Assembly, telling them that he would not have 
called them together in advance of the usual time, but he was summoned to England by news 
which seemed to threaten his interests and those of the jirovince. A bill which had been pre- 
sented in Parliament and had passed to second reading in the Hotise of Lords provided for 
annexing the several proprietary governments to the Crown. 

An important act of the Proprietary, before Penn's retu.rn to England, was the granting to 
the province of a new Charter of Privileges. In 1696 dissatisfaction with the original Frame of 
Government had caused such pressure on Governor Markham that he had amended that docu- 
ment in many particulars and submitted the amendments to Penn for confirmation. The pro- 
prietor failed to confirm it, but as he had not rejected it the province acted on it until the arrival 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



97 



of Penn. who informed the Assembly which met after his arrival, that they must prepare a new 
constitution, and in the meantime he assumed absolute powder. Little progress was made in the 
matter until Penn announced his approaching departure for England, when the matter was taken 
up by the Assembly and the constitution or charter of 1701 was the result, given at Philadelphia 
under William Penn's "hand and broad seal this twenty-eighth day of October, in the year of 
our Lord one thousand seven hundred and one, being the thirteenth year of the reign of King 
William the Third over England. Scotland, France and Ireland, etc., and the twenty-first year 
of my government." 

This document proved of great importance, as it continued to be the organic law of Penn- 
sylvania until 1776. It wrought some improvements, but in at least one important respect was 
less democratic than the original "Frame of Government." 'i'he Council, wliich had l)een elected 




DucHH House, vSouth Third Street 



by the people, was changed to a council of proprietary advisers and were all appointed by the 
proprietor, with the functions of an advisory board to the governor — an aristocratic appanage 
which was the cause of much popular dissatisfaction until the Revolution brought absolute 
change in the entire system of government. 

For a long time there had been agitation for a separate government for the lower counties ; 
and in order to settle this it was provided in the charter that if. within three years from its date, 
the people of those counties should decide on a separate government, and refrain from 
returning representatives to the Assembly in Philadelphia, they could do so. In connection 
wnth this contingency it was provided that in the event of the separation of the lower counties, 
the other counties (Philadelphia. Chester and Bucks) should return to the Assembly eight 
members each, but if the three lower counties should decide to remain with the others, the 
Assembly should be composed of four members from each of the six counties of the province. 
The lower counties decided on a separate government, and so voted. 

The charter provided for annual sessions of the Assembly which could originate bills, and 
could not be dissolved by any outside power. The members received pay at the rate of six shill- 
ings per day (the Speaker ten shillings) and tliree pence per mile for going to and returning 



98 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



from their homes. For electors there were property quahhcations. The voter was required to be 
a native or naturaHzed British subject owning fifty acres of land, well seated, twelve acres of 
which he had cleared, or otherwise worth fifty pounds in lawful money of the province. This 
proved to be a restrictive provision which kept large numbers out of the privileges of the fran- 
chise. Liberty of conscience was guaranteed in religious matters, but all officials were required 
to profess their belief in "Jesus Christ the Saviour of the world." 

The granting of a charter to Philadelphia was another important act of Penn just before 
he left for England. In 1691 a charter for Philadelphia had been signed by Penn, appointing 
Humphrey Morrey (a prosperous merchant of Philadelphia and a cousin of Edward Shippen) 
as mayor and naming a full set of city officials, but there is no evidence that this government 
for the city was ever really organized. In fact it appears to have been entirely ignored, for 
Penn, writing from England in regard to municipal affairs, always addressed himself to the Gov- 




SHIPPEN IIUUSE, 16','5 
(Edward Shippen, First Mayor of Philadelphia under regular charter, 1701.') 



ernor and Council, to whose hands the management of city affairs had been confided, and by 
which it continued to be governed until the granting to the city of this charter, on October 25, 
1701, or three days before the grant to the colony of its charter of privileges. 

The city charter named the following as city officials : Edward Shippen. mayor ; Thomas 
Story, recorder, and eight aldermen — Joshua Carpenter, merchant (brother of Samuel Carpen- 
ter, who owned the "Slate Roof House") ; Griffith Jones, merchant; Anthony Morris, the Quaker 
brewer; Joseph Wilcox, rope-maker; Nathan Stanbury; Charles Read; Thomas Masters, exten- 
sive land owner, and William Carter. The twelve members of the Common Council were: John 
Parsons, William Hudson, William Lee, Nehemiah Allen, Thomas Paschall, John Budd, Jr., 
Edward Smout, Samuel Buckley, James Atkinson, Pentecost Teague, Francis Cooke, and Henry 
Badcocke. These officers were declared to be "one body corporate and politic in deed" under 
the name and style of "The Mayor and Commonalty of the City of Philadelphia." Thomas 
Farmer was designated as sheriff, and Robert Ashton as town clerk and clerk of the courts. It 
was not a democratic body, for, as organized, the members of the corporation (mayor, recorder, 
aldermen and common councilmen) met in annual meeting to choose their own successors, and 
were authorized to fill vacancies from the well-established freemen of the city. The mayor or 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 99 

other officers could be removed by the corporation for misbehavior. The charter conferred large 
judicious powers upon the mayor, recorder, and aldermen. The Common Council met from 
time to time, on call from the mayor, recorder, and three aldermen, and mayor, recorder and 
aldermen sat with the councilmen in these meetings, which were authorized to pass reasonable 
laws, ordinances and constitutions for the government of the city. It is said that the corpora- 
tion was formally organized at once, following its ai)pointnient, though the minutes prior to 
1704 appear to have been lost. , 

Having thus left both province and city provided with organic bases for their future gov- 
ernment in these two charters (both of which continued in force until the Revolutionary War). 
Penn. with his wife. Hannah, his daughter, Letitia (often affectionately referred to as "Tishe" 
in Penn's letters), and little John ("The American"), embarked, on November 2, 1701, on the 
Oalmahoy. for England, arriving in London about four weeks later, after an unusually trancjuil 
voyage. As Markham had been retired from the vice-governorship by Penn. complying with the 
request of the Lords Commissioners in London, he had himself taken up the executive details 
of the provincial government. Before leaving for London he appointed as lieutenant-governor 
Andrew Hamilton, who had been postmaster-general of the colonies, and previous to that had 
been governor of East and West New Jersey. 

A still more important appointment, from the historical point of view, was that of James 
Logan to be provincial secretary and clerk of the Council. Logan had been Penn's secretary and 
had come from England with him in 1699. James Logan was of Irish birth and Scottish par- 
entage, his father being a Church of England clergyman who, becoming a Friend, left the pul- 
pit to become a school teacher. When the disturljances occurred in Ireland, as a result of the 
Irish endeavor to restore James II to the throne, the Logans went to England. James, the son, 
was a man of profound learning, brilliant without pedantry, with a scholarly knowledge of 
Latin, Greek and Hebrew and a fluent use of the important modern languages. A constant stu- 
dent, he kept up with current knowledge, and being full of vigor and enthusiasm, became a man 
of great prominence and influence in the province. Penn, who had made his acquaintance while 
staying with the Callowhills, at Bristol, became very much attached to him and gave hini employ- 
ment, and when he returned to England entrusted to him many important aft'airs. 

When he embarked for England he gave the protection of his interests, unreservedly into 
Logan's hands, writing him a letter of instructions while on board the ship in the Delaware 
River, and. from that time on. constantly confiding in Logan's zeal and integrity. Logan kept 
up correspondence with Penn, who thus received information about his province in terms of truth 
as Logan saw it, while Logan received from Penn an exact statement of his opinions and his 
needs. Logan was receiver of all dues and manager of all the interests of Penn in the colonies 
and the Penn-Logan correspondence of that era furnishes the most complete and illuminating 
picture of things as they occurred in the city and colony. 

Governor Andrew Hamilton was not a resident of Philadelphia, or even of Pennsylvania, 
and while he was governor, as when he had been postmaster, he only came to the city when his 
presence was required there. He made little impression on the colony, and was in office only 
about sixteen months, dying at his home in Am boy, N. J., in April. 1703. Edward Shippen. 
mayor of Philadelphia, who was also president of the Council, became acting lieutenant-governor 
until Penn could select a successor. It took a long time to notify Penn. and it was not until 
Feljruary. 1704. that John Evans, whom he had chosen for governor, reached Philadelphia. His 
appointment, by Penn. to such a position was a grievous mistake on Penn's part, and one that 
reflected severely on his judgment. Evans was only twenty-six years old. but Penn had esteemed 
him a young young of good character and steady habits. He chose him because he was a young 
man who. he thought, would exert a steadying moral influence upon his son, by his first wife. 



100 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



William Penn. Jr. The younger Penn. brought up in the atmosphere of the court of the Stuarts. 
had become the associate of some of the most profligate of the young aristocrats of England. 
He was married and had young children, but responsibility had sobered him not at all. His 
excesses had scandalized his friends in England, and Penn thought that if he could have a visit 
under proper surroundings the staid environment of Quaker friends in Philadelphia would give 
him a more sedate view of his duty. Hence the appointment of young Evans to be a balance- 
wheel to his boy as well as the governor of his colony. 

The new governor arrived at night, and the next day his commission was published in the 
market-place, where he appeared, duly attended by an imposing official entourage which included 
the Council of State, the mayor, aldermen and Council of the city, and the chief officers, 
notables and inhabitants of Philadelphia. Thence the new governor and council repaired to the 
council chamber, and held a council. i 

Young Penn had been consigned to the care of James Logan, who had been advised to 
bring him under the influence of some sedate members of the Society of Friends. The young 
man, as the son of the proprietor, had been assigned a seat in the council and could have 
attained for himself a leading place in the community. But both he and the governor began 
to haunt the taverns, and on one night's orgie Penn and Governor Evans assaulted the watch 
in one of these resorts. This started a free-for-all fight and young Penn called for pistols. Then 
the lights were put out and Alderman Wilcox, in the midst of the hubbub caught young Penn 
and thrashed him soundly. The attempt to punish him by the local magistrate was somehow 
warded off and the Quaker Meeting started in to administer its discipline to the Founder's heir. 
But he avoided that by resigning all membership in the Society of Friends and openly entering 
the Church of England, and after some more scandalous behavior he took ship for England. 

Queen Mary had died at the end of 1694 and King William reigned alone until March 8, 
1702, when he died, and Anne, second daughter of James H. ascended the throne, and so far as 
Penn's tenure of his province was concerned his position was greatly improved. Quarry, who 
had never ceased his attacks on the Pennsylvania administration and the share of the Quakers 
in it. found himself in trouble because of the evidence which came from Philadelphia, and was 
presented by Penn to the Lord's Commissioners, showing that Quarry had been implicated in 
bribery. His removal followed. Roger Mompesson, his successor, going out with the Queen's 
Commission on the same ship that carried Governor Evans and William Penn, Jr., to Phila- 
delphia. 

While the accession of Anne brought with it assurance that Penn's province would not 
be taken from him. to be replaced by a crown colony, as Quarry and his friends had tried to 
make it. he was beset with other troubles. An agent named Ford, who had been gi\en charge 
of his English and Irish estates, had swindled him. and had so falsified his accounts as to enable 
his wife and son, after his death, to set up a claim to all Pennsylvania. Penn was arrested for 
this alleged debt and was confined in the Fleet prison for nine months, in 1708, until a suffi- 
cient sum could be secured to compromise this unjust claim. His straits were such that he pro- 
posed to sell the colony to Queen Anne for £20.000. The confinement in the Fleet undermined 
his health and in 1712 he was stricken with paralysis, remaining in that state until he died, 
six years later. 

During the last years of the Founder's life the government of his province went on much in 
the same fashion as it had during the period between his first and second visits. The council, 
hand-picked as it was, gave little trouble on the score of opposition to the rights or claims of the 
proprietor, though the Assembly was less docile. Governor Evans, so far as he was active at all, 
was a stickler for prerogative, and the question of a militia for defense was always a bone of 
contention. The opposition of the Quakers to any form of military organization was a con- 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



101 



stant cause of friction. Governor Evans asked for an appropriation for a militia organization 
and was refused, and in 1706, in order to carry his point, he practiced a paltry trick on the 
people to scare them into organizing a military force, causing a messenger to ride into the 
city on a foaming horse, while the May fair was in progress, with the news that the French 
were on their way up the Delaware. Pretending great excitement over this news, Evans buckled 
on a sword, mounted a horse, and called on the people to arm in their own defense. So far as 
getting Quaker recruits Evans only succeeded with four, but otherwise there was great excite- 
ment. Ships went uj) rivers and creeks, citizens cached their treasures and there was much 
scurr\ing about to notify ])eople of the imi)ending trouble until the hoax was discovered and anger 
took the place of dismay. 

In the .\ssembly David Lloyd had again appeared as a source of troul)le as the self- 
appointed defender of the people's rights against the alleged rapacity of the proprietor. Under 
his incitement the Assembly refused to vote money for the lieutenant governor's salary, and, in 
addition, placed other costs of administration on Penn, which were greatly in excess of his means. 
One of the aggravations which led the Assembly into opposition to the proprietor was the general 
and well-founded dislike, on all sides, for Governor Evans, about whom complaints poured into 
the mails with every ship that went to England. But Evans was Penn's appointee, and was. more- 
over, the son of a much loved Welsh friend of Penn's. Penn was conspicuouslv a man who stuck 
to his friends — often to his own disadvantage. 

Logan tried to back up Penn's side of the controversy, and thus to be, as far as was possible, 
the champion of Evans. Thus he brought the wrath of the Assembly upon himself, becoming 
such a target of attack that the Assembly, in February, 1707, presented articles of impeachment 
against him. which failed because the governor declined to try the case against Logan. The 
Assembly at this session was in hopeless hostility to the governor, and David Lloyd, the Speaker, 
openly quarrelled with him and was sustained by vote. The House also refused the governor's 
request for a suitable Court bill, or any appropriations for defense, and petitioned Penn for 
removal of Evans in strong terms, declaring that he had, "by his excesses and misdemeanors, dis- 
honored both God and the Queen, and has brought this government under very great and public 
scandals." The accusation as to the private character of Evans was none too severe. The request 
for his remo\al was backed up by numerous letters to Penn from strong Quaker friends of his. 
There was another meeting of the Assembly in 1708, which met without the consent of Evans, 
who asked it for supplies for defense and was refused, notwithstanding the fact that French pri- 
vateers from Martinique, assemljled ofif the Capes, had captured three vessels bound to or from 
Philadelphia. The Assembly again attacked Evans as an encourager of vice and debauchery. 

Penn had at last become convinced that the Evans administration was no longer supportable. 
He. therefore, appointed Colonel Charles Gookin as lieutenant-governor, and the appointment was 
approved by the Queen and Privy Council on June 28. 1708. Gookin. however, did not arrive in 
Philadelphia just then. The appointment of Gookin was made while Penn was in the Fleet 
prison for de])t. from which he did not get release until December, 1708. The friends who raised 
the money which Ijrought release to Penn, were secured by a mortgage covering his entire pro- 
vince, the sum secured being i6800. The mortgagees were Henry Gouldney. Joshua Gee, Sylvanus 
Grove, John Woods and John Field, of London; Thomas Callowhill, Thomas Dade, and Jefifrey 
Penuel. of Bristol ; and Thomas Cuppage, of Ireland. They did not take possession, but appointed 
Edward Shippen, Samuel Carpenter. Pichard Hill, and James Logan their agents to collect rents 
and sell lands to settle the del^t. 

A\ hen Governor Gookin came, he made a few new appointments to the Council. He declined 
to take up complaints against Governor Evans or Logan. The old discussion about militarv aid 



102 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

from the cdloin- was revived when (iookin asked for men and money for the expedition to New- 
foundland, hut the Assembly did not respond. Still under the leadership of David Lloyd, as 
Speaker, the .Vssembly continued to be distinctly unfriendly to the })roprietary interests, and espe- 
ciallv to James Loc^an. who was Penn's direct representative. 

In May. 1709, a pri\ateer entered Delaware Bay and sacked the town of Lewes. The Gov- 
ernor advised the ])eople to arm themselves, and the entire militia to prepare to be called out, and 
summoned the Assembly for a special session. But the Legislature spent its time on other 
things, principally in disputes about the courts and James Logan, but did nothing toward defensive 
preparation. James Logan, who announced his intention to visit England, came near being 
arrested on a writ issued by David Lloyd, which was only prevented by the direct interposition of 
the governor's authority. 

John Pienry Sprogle, who had been naturalized by special act of the Council, set himself up 
in 1)usiness as a land-shark by getting control of the remaining title of the Frankford Company, 
which had sold lands to the Germantown settlers. Many of the Germans had not been naturalized, 
and Sprogle's scheme was to obtain the lands by forfeiture on the ground that they were aliens. 
The strength of his scheme laid in the fact that Sprogle had retained every lawyer in the prov- 
ince by giving them contingent shares of the property to be seized. David Lloyd was the fore- 
most of these lawyers, and was to have the thousand acres of land which belonged to Benjamin 
Furley, one of the defendants in the action. But the scheme was frustrated when the Coun- 
cil, by special act, naturalized the entire eighty defendants. The only result was to discredit 
the whole group of schemers, and especially David Lloyd. His connection with that case and the 
attacks which had been made and continued against James Logan, who was very popular outside 
of Legislative circles, caused a wave of indignation which found expression in the election of 
1710. Not a single member of the 1709 body was returned and the membership was composed 
entirely of new men, with Richard Hill as Speaker. Lloyd left the city, and took up residence in 
Chester. 

Logan remained abroad about a year in constant association with Penn, returning shortly 
before the paralytic stroke came on August 4, 1712, while he was writing a letter to Logan. Upon 
that faithful agent fell the cares and responsibilities of the province during the remaining years 
of the founder's life. The colony, however, came to better times with the end of Britain's long 
war with France and Spain in 1713. Commerce revived as privateering came to an end. The 
disputes in the Assembly between Church of England men and Quakers over war taxes and mili- 
tary measures were suspended and there was comparative peace in the province for awhile. But 
Gookin was a trial to the settlers and hostile to Quakers as officials and law-givers. He was 
unpopular with the public generally, and especially with the Quakers, because of his insistence 
that the province should give military aid to the Crown. But the crowning folly was his ruling 
that the Act of Affirmation, which enabled a Quaker to qualify for office, or to testify without 
violation of his conscientious scruples against the taking of oaths, was repugnant to the laws of 
England and therefore void. The result of this was to throw the government into the hands of 
the non-Quaker element, which was, of course, the object of the ruling. But it went further 
than that. No Quaker could testify in any case or serve on any jury. 

Complaints to Penn would avail nothing at that time. The mind that had been so clear and 
effective was clouded and incapable. Hannah Penn, his wife, upon whom the responsibility 
now devolved was. however, a very capable woman, kept faithfully advised of conditions by James 
Logan, in Philadelphia, and in person by Thomas Story, both of whom advised the removal of 
Gookin. She decided, therefore, that Gookin should be removed, and as a consequence Colonel 
William Keith received the proprietor's commission, and confirmation by the Crown as lieuten- 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



103 



ant-governor of I'ennsylwmia. lie inherited a baronetcy in 1720, and is known in liistory, 
therefore, as Sir William Keith, lie landed at Philadelphia, May 31, 1/17. 

On June 30, 1718, William I'enn died. His career was in many respects unique and his life 
one of great usefulness. In many res]:>ects in advance of his day, Penn founded in Pennsylvania 
a commonwealth that stood for kindness and justice. His dealings with the Indians freed his 
province from trouble with the native tribes, and his desire for the welfare of those who had 
settled on these lands was unquestionable. The idea of oppression was foreign to him. He was 
a poor business man. was often deceived in his judgment of men. Pure in purpose himself he 
was often deceived by outward appearance into approval of the incompetent and the unworthy, 
but he was of gentle mien and manly ideals wdiose name is worthily listed on the roster of the 
great and good. 




OLD COURT HOUSE, SECOND AND MARKET STREETS. 



C H A 



R 



E 



H T 



PHILADELPHIA UNDER HANNAH PENN AND HER 

CHILDREN 



When William Penn died he left Pennsylva 
of her hody." Six children had been born of this 
delphia ; lliomas, Hannah, Margaret. Richard a 
in early childhood. Of his first family only two 
these had been provided for with the bequest 
Letitia had married William Aubrey, who by the 
period of his financial troubles, in the endeavor 
had earned from his father-in-law the character! 

Young- William Penn, who had continued in 
and always Ixjasted himself the heir ]^resumpti\-e 



nia in his will to his "wife Hannah and the issue 
marriage. John "the American."' native of Phila- 

nd Dennis, and of these Hannah and Dennis died 
survived. Letitia and William Penn, Jr., and 
to them of Penn's English and Irish estates, 
persistent way he had hounded Penn, during the 
to collect the last farthing of his wife's dowry, 

zation of "that scraping and disagreeable man." 
England his dissolute courses and dissipations, 
to his father's great province in America, was 




Third City Hali,, Philadelphia, 1735 to 1894 

much disgruntled at being cut out of the -Vmerican estate, and tried to have the provision set 
aside, meanwhile boldly assuming himself to l)e the heir. The news of Penn's death reached the 
province in due course, and was formally announced by Governor Keith in November, 1718. On 
April 28, 1719j the governor read before the Provincial Council a letter from William Penn, Jr., 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 105 

in which he assumed to re-comniission Keith as i^overnor and commanded him to announce to 
the Council and peojjle that he ( W'ilham i\'nn, Jr.) had succeeded to "the government of the 
province and counties." 1'hough this letter was discussed in all seriousness it was finally laid 
aside to await authoritative advices. The matter was in the English courts which, without undue 
delay, decided it hy sustaining the will and thus clearing the title of Hannah Penn and her chil- 
dren to the proprietorshi]) of the i)ro\ince of rcnnsyhania and the lower counties. Young Penn 
died in France in 1720. 

Governor Keith was a Scot. He had been connected with the colonial service for manv 
years, antl was a surveyor of customs in the Carolinas for a considerable period and during that 
time had made several visits to Philadelphia, in the course of which he became well acquainted 
with James Logan. Isaac Norris and other prominent people in Philadeli)hia. So that when, 
after Penn's appalling mistake wnlh. Evans and his scarcely less blundering experiment with 
Gookin, a new choice became inevitable, it was the advice of these men, vouching for the character, 
ability and experience of Keith, that secured his appointment by Hannah Penn, then in charge of 
Pennsylvania affairs during the incapacity of her husljand. Keith was an adroit i)olitician, clever, 
tactful, of affable spirit and charming manner, most capable of any of the executi\es who had so 
far held the reins of government, but, as the event proved, none too scrupulous as to the means 
adojjted to obtain his ends. But he was an able instrument of government at the time and under 
the unique circumstances surrounding him during the years immediately following the death of 
\\'illiam Penn. It was the first time that a woman had held the feudal post of lord pro])rietor of 
a great province, but with Logan to advise and Sir William Keith to execute the plans and poli- 
cies of the proprietorship the wheels of the government of the province revolved for years much 
more easily under Keith than under his predecessors. It was not that the idea of the proprie- 
torship was any more ])opular under Hannah Penn that it had been when her husband ruled. 
It was less popular, for with many of the settlers there was a sense of personal loyalty 
to Penn himself which could not be passed on to his ''heirs and assigns." But Keith was approach- 
able and subtle. He was deferential, suave, sympathized in demeanor, if not in w^ord, with the 
complaints against the government, and ended by gaining majority support for any special thing 
he had in mind. When he succeeded to his baronetcy in 1720 he became even more interesting 
to the public, many of whom were loaded dowai wdth old-country prejudices and points of view 
and were much attracted l)y a title. 'Hie Assembly \oted him more money than he asked for, for 
the various causes he placed before them, and for salary ga^■e him a sum larger than he had 
fixed for himself. He bought a tract of 1200 acres at Horsham (then in Philadelphia county, but 
now in Montgomery county), and in 1722 built a large stone mansion on it, which is still standing. 
There he lived in style, equalling that in which Penn had indulged when he was at Pennsbury. 
The governor had seventeen' slaves, four coach horses and seven riding horses, and other things 
were proportionately magnificent. He had a special pew built and put into Christ Church, to be 
thereafter designated as "the governor's pew." 

A notable feature of this period was a large immigration of foreigners who knew not one 
word of English, but w^ho, after landing and getting settled were thrifty enough of them- 
selves and appeared to be an industrious and worthy people. They came mostly in companies and 
groups and settled in communities, professing varied forms of religion, which, not being British, 
were viewed with scarcely veiled suspicion by Quaker and Churchman alike. They were Mennon- 
ites, Amishes, Dunkers, German Lutherans, and came in batches, grouped by their religious align- 
ments. Many came from the Palatinate, and they were si)oken of in familiar parlance as 
"Palatines." They were in the main exceptionally peaceful people, but it was difficult to allay the 
suspicions of the English-speaking colonists, who took generations to come to the understanding 



106 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 





ANDREW HAMILTON 



EDWARD SHIPPEN 





RICHARD VAUX 



ISAAC NORRIS 



THE STORY OF Pll ILADELPHIA 107 

that people who did not speak Enj^^lish nor want to learn it and who did not care to hecome 
naturalized, could possibly be desirable accessions to the citizenship of the province. 

It was during the governorshij) of Sir William Keith the issue of irredeemable paper cur- 
rency, issued by the colony, began. It was put out in increasing quantities, beginning with 
£15,000 in 1722, following with £30,000 in 1723, £30,000 in 1729, and in 1739 enough to make a 
total of £80.000, to remain in circulation for sixteen years. In 1763 an act was passed by the 
British Parliament, by which the entire paper money systems of the colonies, including Penn- 
sylvania, were outlawed and further issues prohibited. The money on these various issues was 
loaned on a real estate security, or by pledge of plate, through the medium of a board of five 
trustees for the General Loan Office, who were under bond. Much was expected of this paper 
money system. Benjamin Franklin became a great advocate of it, and though its value so depre- 
ciated that the pound sterling of these provincial bills of Pennsylvania became of the value of 
only $2.71^, he wrote a pamphlet protesting against the passage of the Act of 1763. 

One of the early disadvantages of Pennsylvania and, in fact, of all the British colonies, was 
the woeful lack of a sound circulating medium. The exportable products were sold and delivered 
at the water's edge in exchange for imported goods, so that only a small amount of gold and 
silver coins came from Britain in payment for goods. Spanish coins were very plentifully pro- 
duced, not only or chiefly in Spain, but at many mints in the silver-producing possessions of 
SpaiUj and particularly in Mexico, but comparatively a very small part of this product found its 
way to British America. The possession of large quantities of coins of an everywhere recognized 
intrinsic value was Spain's great and crowning advantage over all the other commercial nations 
at that era. In the American colonies paper gained its recognition and popularity on the basis of 
dire need for a medium of exchange. But in Pennsylvania this still left a great shortage of 
small change, for copper coins were very few, and small silver a rarity. We find notations, there- 
fore, a notice that Joseph Gray (in 1746) had printed for him (by Benjamin Franklin) notes of 
hand of 2d., 3d., and 6d., to the total amount of £27 10s., "out of sheer necessity for running 
change." Doubtless this is only one of many such instances. 

On December 22, 1719, appeared Philadelphia's first newspaper, the "Philadelphia Weekly 
Mercury," printed by Andrew Bradford and sold by him and John Copson. It contained no 
advertisements. The first advertisement appeared in the second number and ofifered a reward of 
five pounds for the arrest and return of a "bright mulatto negro coachman, Johnny," who ran 
away from his master, Philip Ludwell. of Green Spring Va. The next was a notice that John 
Copson, one of the proprietors of the paper, had a negro boy for sale in Market Street. 

These were constructive years in connection with the enactment of city ordinances to make 
the civic life of the city conform to proper standards. It was about 1710 when pigs were ban- 
ished from the streets and goats were put under a like ban in 1712. Pebble-stone sidewalks and 
cobble-stone streets were introduced about then, but in 1719, l)ricks were used for sidewalks and 
to some extent in street for paving purposes. Householders were required to keep the streets clean 
in front of their houses, and were encouraged to sink wells and put in public pumps, so that the 
water could be conveniently reached in case of fire, and the owner was entitled to receive such 
rents for use of the water by the neighborhood as might be agreed upon. The City Council noted 
that the heavy vehicles on the streets made it difficult to keep them in repair. The chief cause of 
this was the heavy loads of cord-wood continually being hauled into the city, all of which was 
required to be officially corded and measured. As wood was the only fuel, every house had to be 
fitted up with a wide chimney, which needed to be swept every few weeks to remove the soot. 
James Henderson was therefore licensed as a public sweep, and in his employ were a number of 
sooty sweeps, who climbed up the chimneys, with birch brooms, poles, soot bags. etc. 



108 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



The Citv Council found jjlenty of work to do. It passed ordinances for gauging and testing 
malt liquors and preventing adulterations, such as adding honey, sugar, molasses, foreign grains, 
Guinea pepper, etc., to them. It regulated the keeping and use of gunpowder, providing that no 
person within two miles of the city should keep more than twelve pounds of powder in his pos- 
session at any time, under penalty of £12. except the keeper of the public powder-house, in whose 
charge all powder brought to Philadelphia was required to be stored. This ordinance w^as enacted 
in 1725. after William Chancellor, a sailmaker, at the request of an association of merchants, 
secured a tract of land at the city's edge, on the King's High Road from Philadelphia to Frank- 
ford and Bristol, and built thereon a brick and stone powder-house. His compensation was 
twelve pence for the first month and six pence for each subsequent month for each barrel of 
powder in storage. Stringent laws were also made prohibiting the manufacture and sale of 
lireworks. 

Ferrv privileges were much sought after, and ferry rates were high. There were two ferries 
across the Delaware, the rights for which were granted to Armstrong Smith, in 1717. One of 
these ferries started at the foot of High (Market) Street, in Philadelphia, crossing to Cooper's 
Landing (now Camden), New Jersey. The ferry rate for foot passengers w^as six pence for one 
or four pence each for a party of three ; for one horse and rider, one shilling and six pence, or 
one shilling each for a party of three ; and one shilling and six pence for a single ox or cow, or 
one shilling each for three or more cattle together ; for a single hog or sheep, six pence, or four 
pence each for three or more together. Armstrong Smith's other Delaware River ferry ran from 
his home, at the southern boundary of Philadelphia (in or near Wicaco), crossing to Gloucester, 
N. J., with rates fixed at one shilling for single foot passengers, or nine-pence each in parties of 
three, while the rates for animals were 50 per cent higher than on the other ferry. There were 
also three ferries over the SchuylkMl, with rates, of rnurse, much lower, beginning with one 
penny for the single foot-passenger, and others proportionately to that up to one shilling for a 
coach or loaded cart. 

Punishment for oft'enses were severe. Violations of city ordinances were chiefly payable by 
fine if the violators were white, but at the whipping-post or pillory, if committed by a negro or 
Indian. The whipping-post, pillory and stocks were located at the southwest corner of Third 
and High (Market) Streets. The old prison on High Street, between Front and Second Streets, 
was sold by the Common Council in April, 1723, to William Fishbourn, for £75, on condition 
that he should tear it down at once and clear the street, a new prison having been erected by 
the county at Third and High Streets, on the southwest corner. There were, in fact, two build- 
ings, one housing the criminals and workhouse inmates and the other being the debtor's prison. 
Every county in the province had a number of debtors in durance, for imprisonment for debt was 
not abolished until the end of the eighteenth centiu^y. 

The first regular transportation line for passengers was established in 1725, by David Evans, 
who owned a four-wheeled chaise which, upon notice to the proprietor, ran from the Three Tuns 
Tavern, on Chestnut Street, between Second and Third Streets, to Germantown, Frankford and 
Gray's Ferry. For four persons the fare to Frankford was IQs., and to Germantown 12s 6d. ; 
to Gray's Ferry, in the morning, 10s., in the afternoon, 7s. 66.. 

The tavern keepers of Philadelphia in 1718 were charged by the Assembly with charging for 
their liquid refreshments prices which were excessive, and an act was passed requiring the mayor, 
recorder, and aldermen of the city to set the prices, four times a year, at which tavern-keepers 
could sell wine, beer, cider and other liquors, and also jM'ovender for horses. 

In the administration of the criminal law in the provincial courts, the same crudities and 
barbarities were practiced as were in vogue in Britain and, in fact, in all the European countries, 
in methods of punishment. The 'M:)enefit of clergy" which modified punishment of capital ofi^ences 
in the Middle Ages, were still in vogue in Pennsylvania. In its origin it applied to "clerks in 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



109 



holy orders" (or priests), who were practically the only class able to read, but as more learned 
to read it included all who were literate, and was so legally extended, by a statute of Edward 
III. Those who could read were not hanged, but were branded by the jailer with a hot iron on 
the base of the left thumb with the letter "M," if the crime was murder, or "F" for other felonies. 
This branding was al)olished in England by statute of 19 George III (1779). In the Pennsyl- 
vania cases where "benefit of clergy" was claimed, the convicted person, after branding, was 
sent to the workhouse for from six months to two years. If, after release, the convict com- 
mitted another felony, and was caught, the "benefit of clergy" was denied him after convic- 
tion for the second offense. 

We sometimes hear the expression "cold as charity" even in this enlightened day, although 
it is probable that there never before was a time when organized charity had as much heart in 
it as it has today. By an Act of Assembly those who received public relief after June 24, 1718, 
were made to wear a badge on the right shoulder of the outer garment with the letter "P" (for 
pauper) and another letter, the initial of the county, city or other place affording the relief 
(making two "P" initials for the Philadelphia recipient of charity). We have seen how, in the 




WASHINGTON HOUSE, 1740 
(High Street, now Market Street) 

days of the founding of Pennsylvania by William Penn, the Free Society of Trades received 
great privileges and was authorized to have three representatives in the Provincial Council. Its 
constructive work began well, but soon slackened and finally disappeared, being ended in March, 
1723, by an Act of Assembly putting the society's assets in the hands of trustees, who soon dis- 
posed of the property. 

Sir William Keith, whose skill as a politician had ingratiated him into general esteem until 
his double-mindedness was made apparent, was diplomatically faithful to the interests of the 
proprietary until after Penn's death. When that occurred he seemed at first inclined to sup- 
port the pretensions of William Penn, Jr., as heir presumptive. When the matter was referred 
to the courts for decision, the Lords Justice ordered that the lieutenant-governor should con- 
tinue to act until further order, and thus made him. for a time, independent of the proprietary. 
There was, after the first few years of the proprietary government, a constant undercurrent of 
opposition, and any public man who gave voice to this dissatisfaction gained a considerable popu- 



no 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



larity. Sir William was shrewd enough to ohserve this and to cater to it in an apologetic way 
when he first came to the governorship. He was the first of the governors to cater to what had 
come to be regarded by many as the cause of the common people. When Logan, who was the 
representative of the proprietor, would question this attitude he would claim that he was merely 
trying to win the good will of the public to the proprietary administration, but later he was 
unfaithful to the interests of the proprietary family in matters where he could not allege the pub- 
lic interests as his excuse. But he succeeded for several years to keep the favor of Hannah 
Penn and at the same time to gather the nucleus of an independent following. 

Governor Keith kept himself popular with the Assembly, but the Council, which under the 
proprietary system was by far the more ])owerful branch of the government, was divided, a 
strong part of it being against the governor as disloyal to the proprietary. Of these James Logan 
was the leader, although in England, through agencies set in motion by Sir W^illiam Keith, 
Hannah Penn had been inspired with some doubts as to Logan. On the strength of this situa- 




LOXLEY'S HOUSE, ABOUT 1746 
(South Second Street) 

tion Governor Keith undertook, in 1723, to dismiss James Logan as secretary of the Provincial 
Council. Logan was not easily quelled. He set sail for England, and on his arrival he took 
the matter up with Hannah Penn. Logan returned in August. 1724, with a letter to Keith from 
the executive of the estate, in which Hannah Penn enjoined him as follows: 

It is required' that thou advise with the Council upon every meeting or adjournment of the Assembly, which requires 
any deliberation on the Governor's part; that thou make no speech, nor send any written message but what shall be first 
approved in Council, if practicable at the time, and shall return no bills to the House without the consent of the Council, 
nor pass any whatever into a law without the consent of a majority of the Board. 

Keith, however, elected to disregard this advice. He disputed the right of the Council to 
precedence as a law-making body. David Lloyd, who sat in the Assembly, as a member from 
Chester, and had been elected Speaker, sided with the governor, but the opposition, pushed by 
Logan, defeated the Keith-Lloyd combination, and in the course of the controversy, Logan, 
undoubtedly the foremost scholar and statesman of the colony, wrote the pamphlets : "The Anti- 
date," and "A Memorial from James Logan, in Behalf of the Proprietor's Family and of Him- 
self, Servant of the Said Family." How much the pamj^hlets contributed to the result is prob- 
lematical, but on June 22, 1726, Major Patrick Gordon, an old soldier, arrived in Philadelphia 
M'ith a commission as governor in succession to Sir \\'illi;)ni Keith. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



II 



Keith worked hard to incite a revolt against proprietary rule, and succeeded in getting him- 
self elected to the Assembly. But, becoming a candidate for the office of Speaker of the Assem- 
bly, he ran afoul of the similar ambition of David Lloyd, which broke up his only prospect of 
success as a democratic leader. He received just three votes for Speaker. When his father died, 
in 1720, and he succeeded to the baronetcy ; that was the only thing he inherited, for his father 
died insolvent. Sir William, while Governor, had lived in great luxury, and after losing his 
office was deeply in debt. His defeat by Lloyd for the speakership put the quietus on further 
colonial ambitions and made his creditors clamorous. He fled the country and went to England, 
there living a. reckless and dissolute life as long as he could raise any money. He wrote some 
pamphlets on colonial affairs and embarked upon a series of histories of the American colonies, 
of which he finished only the first part, relating to "Virginia. He is said to have been the first 
to suggest to the British Crown the taxation of the colonies as a means of raising revenue. He 




BENEZET'S HOUSE AND CHESTNUT STREET BRIDGE, 1734 



became very poor and finally died, in 1749, as a prisoner for debt in the Old Bailey prison. 
When he went away from Philadelphia he left his wife behind, and Lady Keith died in that 
city, in much poverty, in 1740. 

Major Patrick Gordon, who succeeded Sir William Keith as governor, was a soldier of 
good record, brave, bluff, and intensely loyal l:o the House of Hanover. His first act was to 
reinstate James Logan as secretary of the Provincial Council, but he made no sweeping changes 
in the ofticial personnel. He announced to the Assembly his desire to carry on a conciliatory 
and conservative policy. He said that having been "bred to the camp, remote from the refined 
politics which often serve to perplex mankind." he knew nothing of the devious ways of poli- 
ticians. In his administration, therefore, he intended to pursue a straightforward course. His 
term was. in fact, a singularly quiet one, during which peace and prosperity reigned in the 
province. 

On May 28, 1728, a council was held in Philadelphia for the purpose of renewing some of 
the Indian treaties, at which the representatives of various Indian tribes were present. Gover- 
nor Gordon made an address of amity and good will, and the spokesman of the Indians com- 
mented, in his reply : "The words of the governor were all right and good. We have never 
heard any such speech since William Penn was here." 



112 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

Under Governor Gordon there was a harmonious unity of Governor. Council and Assembly, 
such as had occurred in no previous administration; and he maintained at all times the friendli- 
est relations with the people of the province, while at the same time he was scrupulously faithful 
to the interests of the proprietary. Such objections as were found to him were on the occasions 
when he paid scant respect to the strict code of somewhat ascetic propriety observed by his 
Quaker neighbors, including the bibulous celebration of the birthdays of the king and royal 
princes, and the military methods which attended his movements, such as an occasion when, as he 
embarked on a journey, he was saluted by salvos of guns from the ships in the harbor. 

George I of England died June 11. 1727. and on August 31 the accession of George II was 
proclaimed in the market-place of Philadelphia. The new king's birthday celebration in the fol- 
lowing October was made the occasion of a three days' jollification. The ship owners of 
Philadelphia had a patriotic entertainment at the house of William Chancellor, sailmaker and 
keeper of the powder-house, with twenty-one pieces of cannon firing salutes in the garden. That 
evening there was a ball at the governor's house ; the following day the mayor gave a feast, and 
on the third day the grand jur}^ gave a banquet in honor of the occasion. 

The executive of the Penn estate. Hannah Penn. died in 1733 as the result of a paralytic 
stroke, and was succeeded in the proprietary by her sons. John (the "American"). Thomas and 
Richard, these pledging themselves to make money payments to their sister Margaret, who had 
become the wife of Thomas Freame. Of these Thomas was best qualified for taking care of 
the business end of the proprietaryship. He visited the colony in August. 1732, a year before his 
mother's death, and was received in great state by the populace, with a procession of seven hun- 
dred horsemen, a speech of welcome by Andrew Hamilton, the Speaker of the Assembly, and 
addresses, reception and a collation by the Connnon Council. There was also a banquet in his 
honor, given by the Assembly, a pow-wow with the Chiefs of the Five Nations, a display by 
the fire engines, a banquet by the Freeholders, and an elaborate dinner given by the church- 
wardens and vestry of Christ Church, at David Evans" Crown Tavern. Thomas had come to 
study the colony from the standpoint of the proprietor who intended to make the property yield 
the largest possible returns. He was then thirlv vears of age. and remained an active factor of 
the province as one of its feudal overlords for forty-three years, dying in 1775. He never both- 
ered himself with questions of government or public welfare, and while his original reception was 
intended as a display of loyalty and good will, he had little appreciation for that sort of thing, 
though he had a sufficient recognition of the amenities to give a return bancjuet on the king's 
birthday, in the following October, at which there were many loyal toasts and salvos from fifty 
cannon, followed by a ball at the governor's house in the e\ening. 

Thomas Penn was joined in 1735 by his brother John, his sister Margaret, and her husband, 
Thomas Freams. and these were given a civic reception similar to that which had been accorded 
to Thomas Penn three years before. John, though a native of the city, regarded his connection 
with it with little enthusiasm. He stayed only a short time, going back to England to give his 
personal attention to the Maryland Bouiidary Case, then pending before the Privy Council in Lon- 
don. He never returned to the colony, and died in 1746. Thomas Penn remained in Philadel- 
phia for nine years, returning to England in 1741. His interest in the colony was that of the 
family's business interest, and by the inhabitants generally he was regarded as the proprietor of 
Pennsylvania. Richard, the younger brother, never took any personal interest in the province. 

Governor Gordon died in office in 1736. at the age of 7i. and James Logan, who was then 
president of the Council, became governor pending the appointment of Gordon's successor. As 
there was no new governor until 1738, Logan had a two-year term. Colonel George Thomas, a 
rich planter of Antigua, was appointed by the proprietors in 1737. but was not confirmed by the 
Crown until 1738. He arrived in the summer of that year, and was governor of the province 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



\\y 



until 1746. In 1728 Logan had been maimed for life by a fall, in which he broke off the head 
of his thigh-bone, but his energy was unabated. He held the office of Chief justice and Presi- 
dent of the Council from 1731 to 1739. In 1739 he retired to Stenton, his country-seat, near 
Germantown, and devoted himself to scientific and classical studies. He attained considerable 
distinction as a scholar and scientist, well known in Europe as well as in America. He died 
( )ctober 31, 1751. and was buried in the Friends' burial-ground, on Arch Street. His eldest son, 
William ( 1718-1776), succeeded him as attorney for the Penn family. 

In September and Octoljer, 1736, under th.e auspices of James Logan, who among his many 
excellencies of character and conduct included great friendliness and influence with the Indian 
tribes, there was held a Great Council in the Friends' Meeting House, at the corner of Second 
and High Streets. There were one hundred chiefs in the Council, who had been entertained at 
Logan's country-seat, at Stenton. for three days before the meeting. It was considered a 
momentous occasion, for all over the colonies there were portents of an approaching Indian 
uprising. At the council the chiefs sat in the l»ody of the meeting-house and the galleries were 
filled with spectators. I'resents were exchanged, and a great treaty of peace and amity wa- 
concluded. 

In 1729 the Assembly was held in the house of Captain Anthony, and voiced loud discon- 
tent over the fact that it had no place of its own adequate for its needs, and declaring that if 
no provision w^as made for a State House it would choose some other town for its meetings. 
As a result, a board of trustees was named, with Andrew Hamilton at its head, to secure a site 
and erected a State House for the province. William Allen found a site and took title in his 
own name, turning it over to the trustees in 1730. The lots were on Chestnut, between Fifth and 
Sixth Streets. In 1732 the adjoining lots at each end of the former tract were purchased, giv- 
ing an entire block for the building, which was begun in that year. Progress on the building 
was slow, but it had been so far completed in 1736 that the Assembly could meet on the lower 
floor. 

The two years covered by the administration of lames Logan were years of tranquillity and 
peace, although both Indian and international troubles threatened. 




Eaki.v Shipbuilding 



c 



H A 



P 



R 



N 



I 



N E 



WANING OF QUAKER ASCENDENCY IN ASSEMBLY; 
PHILADELPHIA UNDER CONDITIONS OF 
WAR PREPARATION 



Lieutenant-Governor George Thomas entered upon his duties June 1, 1738. The harmony 
between governor and Assembly, which had prevailed during the Gordon and Logan terms as 
governor, was disturbed almost at the outset of the Thomas administration. The trouble first 
began on a question of the issue of paper currency, which Thomas first opposed but afterward 
agreed to, yielding to 
the judgment of the 
Assembly. Before com- 
ing to the province he 
had been in London en- 
gaged in the defense of 
the Penn proprietary 
rights to the lower coun- 
ties (now the State of 
Delaw^are) against the 
similar claim to juris- 
diction over them, by 
Lord Baltimore. Pend- 
ing final adjudication it 
was arranged that each 
governor should exer- 
cise jurisdiction over 
the people from his own 
province settled in the 
debatable district until 
the correct boundary- line should be definitely drawn. 

The serious issue between the Assembly and the Governor came following news which 
came in 1739 of difficulties between Britain and Spain over campeachy logwood, and Gover- 
nor Thomas became insistent in regard to the necessity for defensive measures. He made every 
effort to induce the Assembly to vote liberal appropriations to put the province in a state of ade- 
quate military and naval defense, but the pacifist views of the Quakers prevailed, and the means 
were not forthcoming. Governor Thomas, on his own initiative, issued letters of marque to 
William Axson, commander of the sloop George, which was fitted up with ten guns and ten 
swivels and went out to sea, the first privateer which ever fitted out and sailed from Philadel- 
phia. Going out in November, 1739, the George returned in July, 1740, with a full cargo, chiefly 
of cocoa, captured from Spanish merchantmen. 

Andrew Hamilton, Speaker of the Assembly, though of the same name, was not a relative 
of the former governor. He retired from public life, with an impressive address, at the close of 
the session of 1739, after a career which had made him the most prominent man in the province, 




THE ARCH STREET BRIDGE AT FRONT STREET, 1721 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



115 




:5 J 

^ ffi .2 

< n. o 

p< o 

(/I 
CO 

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116 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

and one who had served Philadelphia with great ability and patriotism. He was a native of 
Scotland who, in 1697, went to Accomac County, \'irginia, where he was steward of a planta- 
tion and later kept a classical school. He married the widow of the owner of the plantation 
on which he had been steward, and thus acquired a large property and influential connections. 
There seems to be little known of his origin, beyond the fact that he was born and reared in 
Scotland. He had evidently secured a \evy complete classical education. He was known first, 
in America, as "Trent," but "Harrison" seems to have been his real name. Soon after his mar- 
riage he began to practice law in Virginia, removed to Philadelphia in 1716, and in 1717 was 
made Attorney-general of Pennsylvania. He became a meml^er of the Provincial Council in 
March, 1721, but resigned in 1724, because of the calls of his law practice. He was appointed 
prothonotary of the Supreme Court of the province and recorder of Philadelphia in 1727, and 
in the same year was elected to the Assembly from Bucks County. He became speaker in 1729, 
and with the exception of a single year, was reelected to that office annually until his retirement 
from the Assembly, in 1739. He held the office of judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court in Phila- 
delphia from 1737 until his death, on August 4. 1741. 

Andrew Hamilton was the most famous lawyer of his day, but became especially noted for 
his service to the cause of liberty as volunteer counsel for John Peter Zenger, a printer of New 
York, who had estal)lished a paper, "The Journal," which, besides chronicling the news, con- 
tained discussions of the principles of liberty, and some able contributed articles on the Liberty 
of the Press. Though England's great blind poet, in deathless prose, had written his grand 
essay, "Areopagitica," on the same theme, there was very little liberty of that kind in England 
or its possessions. In the American colonies there had not been much tendency on the part of 
newspapers to criticize the acts or shortcomings of those in authority. In the first place, the 
newspapers that had been permitted to establish themselves were, for the greater part, official 
gazettes, dependent in large measure on official favor and patronage ; and, in the second place, 
such comment was dangerous in the then existing status of the law of libel. 

Zenger's "Journal" had stated that judges had been arbitrarily displaced, and that without 
the consent or participation of the Legislature, new courts had been erected by which trials by 
jury were taken away when a governor so willed. That this was a true statement of Governor 
Cosby's acts was notorious, but Attorney General Bradley, of New York, procured an indict- 
ment against Zenger for libel. The trial came up before the very same court (headed by Chief 
Justice James De Lancey, member of the Governor's Council) the illegal construction of which 
had been attacked in the article. Attorneys Smith and Alexander, raising in Zenger's behalf the 
question of legal validity of the judges' commissions, were arbitrarily stricken from the roll of 
attorneys, and the court appointed a young attorney, named Chambers, to defend Zenger, and 
fixed a day for trial. Andrew Hamilton, informed of these proceedings, came from Philadel- 
phia, and was in court on the trial day. Known by reputation, but not personally, by members 
of the court, he waited until Bradley, following his opening statement, ofifered proof of publica- 
tion. Hamilton arose, introduced himself by name to the court, stated that he was interested in 
Zenger's case and that he would save the attorney-general the trouble of proving the printing 
and publication by admitting both. He then advanced the doctrine, novel at that time, that the 
truth of the facts alleged in the liljel could be set up as a defense, and that in this proceeding 
the jury were judges of both the law and the facts. His offer of evidence to prove the truth of 
Zenger's statements was rejected; but Hamilton, in a powerful address, appealed to the jury to 
§ay, from the evidence that they had met with in their daily lives, that the contents of the 
defendant's article were not false. The eloquence of Hamilton, the overwhelming justice of his 
logic, and the common knowledge of the high-handed way in which Governor Cosby had 
manipulated the courts of New York, brought a verdict of "not guilty" from the jury. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



117 



The Zenger verdict was the Magna Charta of the American press. Hamilton's work in 
securing it brought special delight to the people of New York and the Common Council of New- 
York ])assed a resolution thanking him for his services, and presenting him with the freedom of 
the city. The colonies generally hailed the event, for it established free discussion of the conduct 
of public affairs and the acts of public men. Gouverneur Morris, later, aptly referred to 
Andrew Hamilton as "the day-star of the American Revolution." As a citizen of Philadelphia, 
Andrew Hamilton's services were many and constructive. His counsel was sought and given in 
many emergencies, and his death was regarded is a personal loss by all those most interested in 
liberty and progress. 

When war with Spain was publicly proclaimed at the court house, on April 14, 1740, in 
the presence of the governor and council, the mayor and the corporation, there was great 
enthusiasm, made more boisterous if not more earnest by free distribution of liciuor to the popu- 
lace, by guns fired from Society Hill and from the ships in the harbor. Governor Thomas issued 
a proclamation asking for volunteers for an expedition for "attacking and plundering the most 
important part of the Spanish West Indies." The great inducement of quick riches was dwelt 
upon. Money. i)late. jewels, negroes, houses and plantations could be seized and possessed. 




S.AII.ING OF THE PENNSVI.V.-VNIA 

Fame, silver and gold lace and embroidery might be the volunteer's in place of homes])un and 
obscurity if he would only join this expedition and take the island of Cuba. Any young Quaker 
gentleman who wished to enlist could enlist with confidence that his name would not be revealed. 

But few came to enlist, so a special call was made, directed to the servant class — "Germans. 
Swedes and Swissers" would be welcomed. Seven companies, under Captains Archibald Gordon, 
Thomas Freame, William McKnight, Thomas Laurie, William Thinn, Robert Bishop and Thomas 
Clarke were raised, and after being reviewed by Governor Thomas, left in transports for the 
South, their expenses being paid by bills drawn on the Crown. 

The Assembly would appropriate no money for the support of the levies. The dispute was 
constant, for the governor insisted upon military appropriations which the Assembly refused. 
The Governor was attacked for the enlistment of servants, which was declared to be an unau- 
thorized and indefensible seizure of private property. It was, in fact, found that among the 
troops were three hundred servants of a value to their masters of £3000, and cases were after- 



118 THE STORY OF FHILADELPHIA 

ward adjudicated by which i2356 3s Id was allowed and paid out by the provincial treasury for 
188 servants taken out of Philadelphia City and County, 19 from Bucks County, 58 from Ches- 
ter County, and 11 from Lancaster County, or a total of 276. The failure of the Assembly to pass 
approjjriations brought a deadlock, the governor refusing to sign any bills passed by the Assembly, 
which retaliated by refusing to vote the governor's salary. This led to a dicker by which one 
thing was exchanged for another, and the tension was considerably eased. 

The year 1741 was made unhapj^y not only by war, but by business instability, due to cur- 
rency disarrangement, by severe winter weather, bringing distress among the poor and by an 
epidemic of yellow fever, or, as it was then called, "the Palatine fever." In the year before 
there had been 280 burials in Philadelphia. There were 785 in 1741, or an increase of 505. The 
reason for calling it "the Palatine fever" was ihe special prevalence of the disease among the 
recent immigrants from the Rhenish Palatinate. 

During the governorship of Colonel Thomas there was a great wave of religious revival. 
The foremost figure in this evangelists' campaign was George Whitefield, an Oxford graduate 
and comrade of the Wesleys. The power of his sonorous voice and its inflexions has become 
famous in the history of British eloquence. David Garrick declared that Whitefield could make 
an audience tremble or weep merely by the pathetic way in which he could say the word '"Meso- 
potamia." He first came to America in 1738, when only twenty-three years old. On his first 
visit the churches were open to him, Init he was too energetic and outspoken for the conven- 
tional church congregation, so a special structure was erected for his use, which was afterward 
known as the "New Building." Whitefield first preached in it in November, 1740. He had a 
power over multitudes such as has seldom, if ever, been equalled, and never excelled. He made 
seven visits to America, the last in 1769, when he died and was buried at Newburyport, Mass., 
and although his itinerary brought him to Philadelphia twenty or more times, and on one of his 
visits he lived for several months in the city, he always had a large and enthusiastic following. 
Of his success Franklin said that "it seemed as if all the world were growing religious. One 
could not walk through Philadelphia in the evening without hearing psalms sung in the difl:"er- 
ent families of any street." 

Whitefield's was not the only voice calling sinners to repentance in that era of revivalism. 
Native talent participated, among them the most prominent, sometimes accompanying Whitefield 
and at others following in his wake, was Gilbert Tennant, youngest son of Rev. William Ten- 
nant, a Presbyterian preacher, who came from Ireland in 1718 and opened a college in a log- 
house on the banks of Neshaminy Creek, in which he educated many young men for the Pres- 
byterian ministry. This college, or seminary, has been justly called the Cradle of Presbyterian- 
ism in America. Gilbert Tennant was a preacher of a doctrine so strong that he was widely 
known as "Hell-fire" Tennant. The staid and conservative Presbyterians of Philadelphia 
thought his preaching too radical, so that the followers of Gill)ert Tennant formed a congrega- 
tion of their own, which met in the "New Building." Thus, although the numbers of the Pres- 
byterians greatly increased under the ministry of Gilbert Tenftant, a division was made in the 
local Presbyterianism, which, as in the case of a similar division which had then recently been 
made in England and Scotland, became known as "New Lights" and "Old Lights." During his 
Philadelphia visitations Whitefield was closely associated, in work and sympathy, with these peo- 
ple of the "New Light." For, though he began as a Methodist of the original group, which 
included men of varied theological views, Whitefield had, by his emphasis on the Calvinistic view 
of the doctrines of predestination and election, drifted far apart from the Wesleys. who held the 
Arminian view of these doctrines, and laid great stress on "free grace, personal holiness and 
Christian perfection." There was, however, no break in the personal friendship of Whitefield 
and the Weslevs. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 119 

.Another great religious leader of the period was Count Zinzendorf, the famous Moravian 
evangelist, who, discarding his title, came to Philadelphia under the name of Lewis von Thurn- 
stein. It was his desire to itnite the German-speaking settlers of the country into one harmonius 
religious l)ody, for there were among these German people representatives of many shades of 
sectarian belief. Zinzendorf made a good beginning by ])ringing together a German Reformed con- 
gregation and a small Lutheran group, under his own pastorate. News of this amalgamation 
reached Halle, and the authorities there sent Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg to Philadelphia to 
reclaim the Lutherans to their allegiance. As the result of the efforts of these gifted men Count 
Zinzendorf built a church at the corner of Sassafras Street and Bread Street (later called 
Moravian Alley)^ for a Moravian congregation, and Muhlenberg gathered a new congregation 
which became the St. Michael's Lutheran Church. 

Contemporaneous with these religious activities were controversies about the ])articipation 
of Pennsylvania in Great Britain's wars. The second cruise of the privateer, the Cieorge, with 
a consort, the Joseph and Mary, in the West Indies, in 1742. brought a profit of £100,000 under 
the command of Captain Sibbald. Early in 1743 these vessels were sold and the Wilmington, 
a 300-ton vessel, was fitted up with a complete battery equipment, and a crew of one hundred 
and fifty, under Captain Sibbald. With the Wilmington went a schooner consort, commanded by 
Captain Dowell, and these two, cruising on the Spanish Main, captured many prizes. Another 
privateer, of fourteen guns, commanded by Captain Sears, was named, with grim humor, Le 
Trembleur ("The Quaker"), and also made its hunting ground the West Indies and the Spanish 
Main. A still larger ship, the Tartar, Captain Mackey, was fitted with thirty-six guns. It 
started down the Delaware with a full crew and many prominent citizens of Philadeljihia. but 
capsized, drowning many. 

In 1743 the Governor, starved into compromise, signed six of the bills that had been passed 
by the Assembly, which appropriated £1500 for his jjack pay. In 1744 the war situation became 
more serious, involving hostilities with France, as well as Spain. More privateers were put in 
commission — the Marlborough, Captain Christopher Clymer, 230 tons, 18 guns, 24 swivels ; 
Captain William Clymer, barcpie Cruiser, 200 tons, 14 guns, 14 swivels ; Captain .Vlexander 
Kattur, the Warren, 220 tons, .16 guns, 18 swivels ; another old sloop, George, resumed privateer- 
ing \v\i\\ Captain John Dougall in command. While these were successful ventures, coming back 
with rich prizes from the fat cargoes of the Spaniards, Philadelphia was a victim of French and 
Spanish privateers which hovered about the mouths of the Delaware and Chesapeake bays, and 
levied heavy tribute on cargoes from Philadelphia and Baltimore, and the Virginia ports. 

Serious as these depredations were, the governor could get no defensive aid from the 
Assembly. The City Council drew up a petition to the king, asking him to relieve the city, 
which the petition said, had fifteen hundred houses and thirteen thousand people, exposed to 
attack and kept undefended because of the religious scruples of its inhabitants. The exi)edition 
to Cape Breton, organized by Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, found many advocates among 
the people of Philadelphia, but the Assembly of Pennsylvania absolutely refused to vote either 
money or supplies for it. But the news of the capture of Louisljourg by that expedition, in l74o, 
was received in the city with great rejoicing, bonfires, illuminations and toasts appreciative of 
Governor Shirley, General Pepperell and Admiral W^arren. 

The Assembly, still refusing to vote for men or munitions, agreed to a grant of £4000 to 
John Pole and John Mifffin, to be laid out for the purchase of "bread, meat, flour, wheat and 
other grain for the king's service." Franklin records that Governor Thomas gave a liberal inter- 
pretation to the "other grain" clause in this appropriation and bought "black grain" (gunpow- 
der) with a share of the money. After Louis])ourg there were numerous conflicts between the 
Philadelphia privateers and enemy vessels. Captain Dowell, in the New George, lost two of^cers 
and fifteen men dead and fifteen wounded in a fight with the Louis Joseph of St. Malo, France, 



120 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 









Seals of the City at Various Times 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 121 

and withdrew after an hcjur of tightinj;', oil the capes at tlie month of Delaware l'.a_\. The 
Lonis |osei)h was taken, two weeks later, Ijy ('a])tain Kaitnr's Warren, her tender, the Old 
George, Captain Piednoir, of the French vessel falling in a hand-to-hand tight with cntlasses, at 
the hand of Captain Dougall, of the ( )ld Ceorge. Other conflicts occurred in which the Phila- 
delphia privateers gave a good account of themselves. 

The Assemhly offered to contrihute iSOOO to the government if it would he accepted in 
])aper money. The governor was not favorable to paper currency, but finally consented. Four 
companies of volunteers for the army were raised, under command of Captains John Shannon, 
lohn Deimer, William Trent and Samuel Perry. Some troops also were raised in the city for 
General Dalziel's infantry regiment, raised for service in the West Indies, and some for Gover- 
nor Shirlev's Massachusetts infantry. All the recruiting in the city amounted to about five hun- 
dred men. 

An epidemic which raged through New England, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, 
was felt quite severely in Philadelphia. Dr. John Kearsley, leading physician of the city, diag- 
nosed it as angina niali(jnia or putrid sore throat. The description given of the disease identifies 
it as dii)htheria. Blood-letting and mercury comprised the treatment of the disease at that time, 
but a large proportion of the patients died. 

The privateers took many prizes during 1746. and were successful in their various lights 
with the enemy except the Cruiser, Captain William Clymer. which was captured by a force three 
times as large as his, oft' Havana. The enemy lost thirty killed and sixty wounded, but the crew 
of the Cruiser were confined on a prisonship wdiile Clymer was clapped into a dungeon in Havana 
and later sent to Spain. The other Captain Clymer (Chri.stopher ), in command of the Marl- 
borough, captured the French ship Judith, richly laden, recaptured a prize from another French 
ship and drove a Spanish privateer ashore on the coast of Porto Rico, then returned to Phila- 
delphia, sold the Marlborough, raised a company of infantry, and joined the army engaged in 
the conquest of Canada. Captain Kattur. in the Warren, took two French prizes, and Le Trem- 
l)leur found a rich ])rize in a Spanish schooner ballasted with "pieces of eight" and sdver 
l)ullion. 

The enemy was not without his successes. Some French pilots, bringing in prisoners for 
exchange, learned the navigation of the Delaware. On July 12, 1747, a sloop, bearing Brit- 
ish colors, ajjpeared oft' Cape May. The pilot who went out to her found himself a prisoner on 
a French sloop of ten guns, wdth a crew chiefly Spanish. The pilot-boat, with a crew from the 
privateer, went up to New Castle County, carried oft' four negroes from Listen's j)lantatioii 
and rifled the house, and then took the sloop Mary, of London, bound up with a valuable cargo. 
The sloop then departed southward with her prize, taking another prize before reaching St. 
Augustine. 

Neither Council nor Assemljly was in session when the news of this raid reached Philadel- 
phia. Excitement was high, but had measurably calmed down wdien the Assembly met. in 
August. By that time Governor Thomas, because of ill-health, had resigned and gone to bTig- 
land. leaving Anthony Palmer, president of the Council, as acting governor. He bent his ener- 
gies to the endeavor to secure measures for defense. The Quaker majority of the Assembly, m 
response to his demand, answered that the danger was past, and that Philadelphia was far U[> 
the i:)elaware. besides which their religious views would not permit them to build fortifica- 
tions or ships of war. The new Assembly, which met on October 15. 1747. was no more respon- 
sive to the demand for preparedness although, meanwhile, there had been three more raids by 
Franch privateers. 

There was much indignation over the neglect of the Assembly, which, wishing to shelve the 
question, adjourned "to meet May 16, 1748," an unprecedentedly long adjournment for a new 
Provincial Assembly. The popular discontent was made strongly vocal by the ]nil)lication of 



122 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



"Plain Truth; or Serious Considerations of the Present State of the City of Philadelphia and 
Province of Pennsylvania, hy a Tradesman of Philadelphia." It was by Benjamin Franklin, and 
it marked the beginning of his career as the accredited spokesman of Pennsylvania on questions 
of public moment. He had already taken a place of importance in the citizenship of Philadel- 
l)hia, but this i)ami)hlet brought him forward as a popular champion speaking, as he said, for 
"the middling public." and attacking not only the Quakers who were responsible for the defense- 
less situation of the colony, but also the rich coterie of useless, inactive men who always opposed 
Quaker policies but had formulated no constructive measures. He said that "the middling peo- 
ple," for whom he spoke, included "sixty thousand fighting men, acquainted with firearms, many 
of them hunters and marksmen, hardy and bold." 

The effect of this pamphlet was electrical. What had been aimless disapproval and a merely 
murmured discontent became a defined program of virile action. There were pamphlets in 
large numbers, but there were also activities. Franklin headed a movement for an association 
for military purposes which, begun on Saturday, November 21. 1747, in Walton's school-room, 
was soon organized, articles ready for signing being displayed in the New Building, and in three 
days obtaining five hundred signatures. On November 26 the Common Council drafted a peti- 
tion to the proprietary government to send over cannon, arms, ammunition and equipment for a 
batterv. The Provincial Council, on the same day, met and approved the actions of the citizens, 




Anthony's House 



and the association which had been formed. A lottery was projected to raise the £3000 needed 
for a l)attery. and the Common Council bought two thousand of the tickets, lliere were 2842 
prizes and 7158 Ijlanks. I'rizes won by the city were turned over to the association to swell 
the fund. 

The Quakers and non-com])atant Germans feebly tried to stem the tide of public approval 
of ijreparedness by publishing jionderous essays, ])ut the preparations for defense went on. The 
Associators. as they called themselves, went on with the work of organization according to wards 
and townships. Soon organizations were formed in companies, making uj) a regiment for the 
city and another for Philadelphia County. Of the city regiment Abraham Taylor was colonel; 
Thomas Lawrence, lieutenant-colonel, and Samuel McCall, major. (Jf the county regiment 
Edward Jones was chosen colonel; Thomas York, lieutenant-colonel, and Samuel Shaw, major. 
The organization was approved by President Palmer and the Council. 



I'HE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 123 

rhc uKinagcrs of the lottery sent to iMigland for the l)attery; Governor Chnt(jn, of New 
York, on request, lent eighteen 18-pound cannon with carriages, which were sent overland from 
New York. A hattery l)uilding was erected on Antlujny Atwood wharf, under Society Hill, 
between Tine and Cedar Streets, near the foot of the present Loniljard Street, hut later a larger 
battery was placed below Swedes Church, on ground later used as a navy yard. This hattery, 
known as the Association Battery, mounted about hfly caimon. while the otlu-r, or City Battery, 
had an armament of thirteen guns. 

President Palmer had called the .Vssembly into sj^ecial session in January, 174S, to act on 
preparedness, but the majority still refused, and in the spring session his endeavor to persuade 
the Assembly to tit out an armed vessel at the expense of the province was evaded. News of 
the treaty of Aix la Chapelle arrived on August 24, 1748 (four months after it had l)een signed), 
and the .Associators laid down their arms. The priyateersmen became merchant seamen again. 
There had been no fighting for the volunteer soldiers without uniforms, but the Quaker non- 
resistant policy for Pennsylvania received its death blow on November 21, 1747, when Franklin's 
Association was organized. The non-resistants tried to revive their control at several times, but 
it was the genius of Franklin rather than that of Penn which shaped the destinies of Pennsyl- 
vania from that time on. 

The executive duties were taken out of the hands of President Anthony Palmer by the 
appointment of James Hamilton, son of Andrew Hamilton, as lieutenant-governor, by the pro- 
prietors, with the approval of the Crown. He was a well-known and well-liked Philadelphian, 
having lived in the city from the age of six. He was made prothonotary of the Supreme 
Court of Pennsylvania when his father resigned that ofiice, w^as elected to the Provincial Assem- 
bly in 1734, when he was about twenty-four years old, and was five times re-elected; was mayor 
of Philadelphia for a year, from October, 1745. and on retiring from office departed from a 
custom that compelled the retiring mayor to entertain the corporation at a banquet. Instead of 
this, Alayor Hamilton gave £150 toward the erection of a public building. His exami)le was fol- 
loM-ed by succeeding mayors until, in 1775. the sum was devoted to the erection of a city hall 
and court house. He became a member of the Provincial Council in 1746. but was in London 
in 1748, when he was commissioned by the sons of William Penn as Lieutenant-( Governor of 
Pennsylvania. 

James Hamilton was personally popular. He had the confidence of the proprietors, and was 
approved generally by the people of Pennsylvania. His accession to the governorship was 
enthusiastically acclaimed, but it was not long before he found himself embroiled wUh the 
Assembly. That body wished to considerably expand the paper currency, but the proprietors had 
strong objections, and Hamilton was himself opposed to it, as were also many of the leadnig 
people of the city and province. Hamilton, himself, was as firmly against expansion of the paper 
circulation as the Assembly was for it. and none was issued while he was governor. 

It is said that at the beginning of his term, James Hamilton asked Franklin how he could 
avoid disagreement with the Assembly, and Frankiin answered that he could do it ])\- ayoidmg dis- 
cussion. When Hamilton replied to that that he enjoyed disputation, the philosopher assured lum 
that if that was the case he would doubtless find his appetite more than satisfied. And he did. 

( )ne of the questions in which the governor became embroiled with the Assembly was that 
of prerogative, he claiming that the Assembly had no right to sit out of its time without the 
express authorization of the governor. This was a question which had been settled so thoroughly 
in the earlier years of the province that the Assembly overwhelmed the governor's argument, and 
he dropped it to revive it no more. 

In 1752 the calendar was changed from the Julian to the Gregorian system, as the result of 
an Act of the British Parliament, which enacted that after the last day of December, 1751, the 
year should cease to be counted as beginning on the 25th of March, but the first day of January 



124 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



should l^e taken as the first day of the year of Our Lord, 1752. The rectification of the calendar 
was made by taking eleven days from it, calling the 3rd of September the 14th, so that month, in 
1752, had only nineteen days. 

Tohn Penn, grandson of the founder of Pennsylvania, arrived in the ])rovince in December, 
1752, and was a personal witness of one of the annual fights on the subject of a paper-money 
bill, between the governor and the Assembly. This and other disputes made Governor Hamilton 
grow weary of the place, and in 1754 he resigned the ofiice. Trouble with the Indians seemed 
imminent, and Mamilton, who was thoroughly familiar with tlie record of the Assembly on ques- 
tions of Provincial defense, did not care to enter upon a new field of controversy, feeling that at 
that juncture a new man would probably have a better chance of agreeing with the Assembly. 

He was succeeded by Robert Hunter Morris, Chief Justice of New Jersey, who was appointed 
Lieutenant-Governor of Pennsylvania, October 3, 1754, and served in the office until August 20, 
1756. He came to his office in troublous times. The portents were ominous of French aggres- 
sion and of Lidian discontent. The French, entrenched in Canada and Louisiana, claimed all 
the territory drained by the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio rivers and between Canada and 
Louisiana, thus pretending to confine the British to a narrow strip on the Atlantic seaboard. 
Britain expected the colonies to present a united front against this French claim and had called 
Hamilton to account for tlie inaction which the Quaker majority in the Assembly had imposed 
on Pennsylvania. 

Hamilton resigned in time to pass this question on to another governor. Meanwhile, 
another and greater Pennsylvanian had taken hold of the problem from another angle. Benjamin 
Franklin saw that the great danger to the colonies arose from the lack of solidarity. Every one of 
the colonies had its separate system of defence, and none was adequate. As for Pennsylvania it 
had practically no jjreparation beyond the small beginning made by the "Associators" in 1747-8. 
What was needed was union for common defence. In his paper, Franklin advocated this, and on 
May 9, 1754. pul^lished in his paper, the Pennsyhania Gazette, the pictttre of a serpent cut 
into se})arate parts, of which New England was the head and South Carolina the tail. Under the 
picture were the words: "Unite or Die!" later used with another significance, but in this instance 
meant as a condensed argument for military union of the colonies, in confederation against the 
French. Under his initiative a Council was called to meet at Albany. New York, to which he. 
John Penn ( son of Richard Penn of the proprietary ), Richards Peters, and Isaac Norris (then 
.Speaker of the Assembly ) were commissioned as representatives of Pennsylvania, there to meet 
representatives of the other colonies and of the Six Nations, to combine their forces and coun- 
cils against the French. The meeting was held ; the Six Nations, by gifts and diplomatic 
handling, were induced to agree to live at peace with the English, and as a result of the delibera- 
tions of the representatives of the colonies, Franklin's plan for colonial union was agreed to. 
The plan created a Grand Council, membership in which should be designated by the Assemblies 
of the several colonies, over whom there should be a President-General, appointed by the Crown. 
The plan involved too radical a change to suit any except the governors of the colonies. In 
England it was felt that it gave too much independence to the colonies, while the Assemblies 
were jealous of each other and thought it surrendered too much to their neighbors. It was an 
idea in advance of its time, and it failed of acceptance. 

(Jovernor Morris, soon after the Assembly met, notified it that two regiments were soon to 
come from Ireland for a campaign against the French, and it was expected that the American 
colonies would reinforce these troops, and that two thousand men was the quota assigned for 
Pennsylvania, and the Assembly was asked to make provision for victuals, supplies and transi)ort- 
ation of these troops to the front. But the Quaker element still dominated the Assembly and no 
appropriations were made. The question of more paper money, of place and privilege and the 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 125 



laxation of the proprietary estates were discussed, and what liel]) General Braddock received he 
owed to jn-ivate initiative, in which Frankhn was the dominant personahty. 

But Braddock was no match for his opponents and news of his defeat, whicli reached L'hila- 
delphia July 23, 1755, set the country in a blaze. The participation of the Indians, who amlntshed 
the British troops, turned what Braddock had predicted would be an easy march into a disas- 
trous rout. The Scotch-Irish Presln-terians, who had s?one in droves to settle Western Tennsyk 
vania, and who had practically no representaLion in the Assembly, were furious over the neglect 
of the Quakers in the Assembly to make provision for safeguarding the frontier. 

Prejudice against the Catholic i)eo])le also crojiped out in many places. They were suspected 
of being in league with the French. 1 lere, fortunately, the religious tolerance of the Quakers wa~ 
exerted to protect the Catholics from injury. On the whole they succeeded, although the exiled 
.\cadians from Nova Scotia, who had been sent to Pennsylvania were not free from mistreat- 
ment. 

The resentment against the Assembly grew in intensity. Finally, an appropriation of mone\- 
was made "for the king's use," and a militia law was passed which provided that eight companie--, 
should be raised in city wards, three in Oxford township, two in the Northern Liberties, and one 
in Passyunk. The "Association" was given official recognition, but some of the meml)ers of the 
association decided to raise their own companies of cavalry, infantry, and artillery. 

In view of the widespread dissatisfaction with the results of their methods of dealing with 
the question of defence, many of the Quaker legislators felt that their position as a majority 
party was no longer tenable. Several of the most prominent of the members of the Assembly 
declined further service and were succeeded by men wlio professed another Christian faith. 
Quaker control of the Assembly passed, and with it the policy of non-resistance. 

Governor Morris had lost popular favor with the Quakers, because they could not agree 
with his warlike principles, while others blamed him for failing to bring the inharmonious ele- 
ments of the Assembly together on a plan for defence of the country. lie resigned .\ugust 20. 
1756, and returned to his duties as Chief Justice of New Jersey. In 1757. through some mis- 
understanding, a new Chief Justice for New Jersey was appointed, but when it was referred to 
the Supreme Court of that colony, it was decided that Morris' conunission "conferred a freehold 
in the office, and nothing had been shown to divest him thereof." He, therefore, held the office 
until his death at Shrewsbury, N. J., January 27, 1764. His record in that office was that of a just 
and al)le jurist. 




c 



H 



A 



P 



E 



R 



E 



N 



PHILADELPHIA AND BENJAMIN FRANKLIN— 
THE ANTI-PROPRIETARY MOVEMENT 

Benjamin Franklin was and remains the most distinguished historical figure in the annals 
of Philadelphia. That distinction arises out of his personality, which was many-sided, but more 
out of his circumstances, which were unique. In certain of the aspects in which history lauds 
him he has been surpassed by other Philadelphians. As a scientist he was neither so learned 

nor so exact as James Logan, who was partly 
his contemporary ; nor as David Rittenhouse. 
whose prominence came later. Both Logan and 
Andrew Hamilton surpassed him in scholarship, 
and others, at various periods of Philadelphia's 
history, could be mentioned as his equal in many 
of the things wherein he shone. But it is just 
his versatility of talent and genius that made him 
the outstanding figure of his time. 

He was born January 11, 1706 (New Style), 
in a house on Milk Street, Boston, being the 
fifteenth child and youngest son of Josiah Frank- 
lin, a native of Eton, Northamptonshire, Eng- 
land, who was originally a dyer, but turned 
tallow-chandler after he came to America. Josiah 
Franklin's second wife was one of the seven 
daughters of Peter Folger, native of Norwich, 
England, who came to America, 1635, settling at 
Martha's Vineyard, and afterward was one of 
the first settlers of Nantucket Island. 

Franklin's father, who was a Nonconformist 
who came to New England seeking freedom of 
w^orship, and his grandfather, Folger, a land 
surveyor, student of Indian tongues (of which 
he became a valued interpreter) and a man of high repute, is mentioned by Cotton Mather 
as "a godly and learned Englishman." Peter Folger wrote a volume of devout poetry, entitled 
"A Looking-Glass for the Times, or the Former Spirit of New England Revived in This 
Generation," a plea for liberty of conscience and against persecution. Franklin was thus, by 
heredity, a devotee of the principles of liberty. He had a literary trend and was a precocious 
scholar who on being sent to grammar school reached the head of his class in a year; and his 
father's ambition was to have him enter the ministry (Nonconformist), but the burden of the 
large family made the elder Franklin feel that he could not afl:'ord to send the boy to college. 
So at the age of ten, after two years of schooling, his father put him to work in the factory, 
cutting wicks, filling moulds and other work connected with the making of candles and soap. 
This work proved very distasteful to the boy, and, as a consequence he was, in his thirteenth 
year, apprenticed to his half-brother, James, to learn the printing trade. 

The business was, at first, confined to job printing, but in 1721 James Franklin started 
the New England Courant. which was the fourth newspaper to be established in the British 




THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



27 



colonies. IJenjaiiiin. who was an omnixorous reader, liad formed a great desire to become a 
writer. Boy-like, he began with doggerel verse, some of which his brother printed for sale 
on the street. This verse, more conspicuous for pifiuancy than piety, met the disapproval of 
the elder h^ranklin, wlio advised his son, if he desired literary distinction, to stick closely to 
serious prose. Benjamin agreed, and his writings for some time after that bore plain indica- 
tions of the influence which had been exerted ujion him l)y an odd volume of "The Spectator," 
whicli was the most treasured item in his meagre library. Mis brother James treated Benjamin 
none too well, therefore the boy having written an article which he wished to have published, 
slipj)ed it under the printing-office door. It was duly printed in the Courant, and was followed 
by several' others, introduced in a like anonymous manner, until these articles became the talk 
of the town. At this point Benjamin was willing to acknowledge their authorship, and after 
that was a regular contributor to the Courant. 

Editorial indiscretion brought trouble to James Franklin in 1722, and he was forbidden to 
l)ul)lish the Courant. After that the paper ap])eared with Benjamin Franklin's name as 
publisher. The brilliancy of its editorials brought increased circulation and favor to the 
Courant, but after a while there were articles which revealed flagrant departure from the 
pious standards of belief current in staid New England, and many complaints were made 




First Printing Press in Americ.\ 



against Benjamin Franklin as a "free-thinker" bent upon corrupting the morals and under- 
mining the faith of the youth of Massachusetts. This, added to the increasing antipathy of 
his brother James, determined Franklin to leave his brother's employ. This he did, making 
his way first to New York and later to Philadelphia, where he arrived in October, 1722. 

Andrew Bradford, son of William Bradford, who had been Philadelphia's first printer, 
but who had been for a long time "royal printer" in New York, came to Philadelphia and 
established as a printer in 1713. On December 22, 1719, he launched Philadelphia's first news- 
paper, "The American Weekly Mercury," "printed by Andrew Bradford and sold by him and 
John Copson." Samuel Keimer, who had learned the art of printing in London, came to Phila- 
delphia in 1722. He was an eccentric and fanatical person who on his first arrival put an 
advertisement in the Mercurv of his willingness to teach male negro slaves to read the 



128 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Scriptures "in a very uncommon, expeditious and delightful manner." without any cost to 
their masters. He had a square beard, like a Dunker. but belonged to a French fanatic sect 
known in Philadeli)hia as the "F"rench prophets,," one of whose tenets was the observance of 
Saturday as the Sabbath. He was an eccentric person whose affectation of learning was largely 
a pretense or a hallucination, but he reprinted several useful volumes. In 172(S Samuel Keimer 
set up as a newspaper editor in opposition to Andrew Bradford's Mercury. He called his 
l)aper the "Universal Instructor in All Arts and Sciences and Pennsylvania Gazette."' To live 
up to the ambitious first part of this title, Keimer started to republish Chambers' Dictionary as a 
continued story, beginning at the letter "A." 

Franklin, when he came to Philadelphia, in 1722, had visited William Bradford in New 
York, and received from him the advice to visit Andrew Bradford, his son, in Philadelphia, as 
Aquita Rose, Andrew's best workman, had just died. But when he reached Philadeljihia that 
|)lace had Ijeen filled, and it was several days before Franklin found employment with Samuel 
Keimer. He found steadv employment at his trade, being the most skillful ]jrinter in the city 
and doing work at various times with Bradford and at others with Keimer. Sir William Keith, 
then go\-ernor. heard of his ability as a printer, and ach'ised Franklin to set up in business for 
hiiusclf. Therefore b^ranklin went to Boston, in 1724. and appealed to his father for funds to 
start in jjusiness. l)ut the elder Franklin did not ha\e any great faith in his son's stability, and 
so declined to have anything to do with the proposition. Returning to Philadelphia he became 
greatly elated when Sir William Keith proposed to finance the enterprise himself, and arranged 
for Franklin to go to England to purchase the necessary printing plant. Franklin embarked, with 
Sir William's assurance that the funds for the jjurchase would, go forward on the same ship. 
But when the British channel was reached and the ship's mails examined no such enclosure or 
letter was found. Franklin, therefore, arrived in London, in December, 1724, unknown, and a 
\ictim of the utter unreliability of Sir William Keith. 

In London Franklin found employment, first at Palmer's Printing House, and later at Watt's 
Printing House. He also wrote a pamphlet of a freethinking quality which brought him some 
not very ])rofitable notoriety. His two years in London gave him a valuable training and ton- 
ing and he came back with his New England rusticity eliminated and a metropolitan polish to 
his attractive personality and keen intellect. 

When he returned, in 1726, it was with a Quaker luerchant named Denham, who had 
invited him to join him in a mercantile venture. He arrived in October, but Denham soon after- 
ward died, so that the mercantile enterprise was never started. Keimer, by an offer of high 
wages, induced P^ranklin to return to his employ, and though they constantly quarrelled, this 
connection continued until 1728, when with Hugh Meredith, a fellow-workman, he established a 
new printing house. Meredith's father financing the enterprise. It had been the intention of 
Franklin to go into the publication of a newspaper in opposition to the Mercury, but Keimer 
forestalled him by launching the Gazette with the long name, in 1728. 

The failure of this paper to make its way compelled Keimer to give it uj). and in September. 
1729. it went to Franklin at a low^ price. Meredith did not care to go into the newspaper busi- 
ness, and Franklin, securing from two friends the necessary financial aid, bought out the Mere- 
dith interest, dissolving the partnership in 1730. 'J4ie Pennsylvania (iazette was the shortened 
name of the paper under Franklin, starting September 25, 1729, and it became, in his hands, 
an engine of personal and political power. A keen observer, Franklin had gained a comprehen- 
sive knowledge of English political conditions, and a strong grasp of current problems in England 
and the colonies. He became the leader of progressive thought in Pennsylvania. He published 
"Poor Richard's Alm'anac," full of a homely philosophy, which earned it popular favor in its own 
day, and has long held a permanent place in American literature. He was the pioneer in many 



THE STORY OP PHILADELPHIA 



129 



thint^s for the gucxl of Philadelphia and I'cntis_\l\ ania at lari^c. lie organized a society which he 
called The Junto, which was a secret organization of niulual friendliness, and also a debating 
society in regard to current questions, political, social, scientific and literary which, founded in 
1728, became, in 1744, the American Philosoplu\-al Society, whicli has ])een in acti\e existence 
ever since. 

in business I-'ranklin thrived by great industry. Besides his newspaper and his almanac, l)oth 
of which thrived and were popular, he did much printing for ])ublic and ])ri\ate orders, and 
conducted a successful ])ookstore. His first public office was in 1736. when he ])ecame clerk of 
the Assembly. While there is no question as tD the patriotism of b^-anl^lin, he had an appre- 
ciative eye to the emoluments of office, and although he had l)ecome a man (jf means, he 
expresses in his correspondence his satisfaction at recei\ing this office, which not only added to 
his income directlw but also ga\e him. as he says, "a l)etter op])ortunity of keeping up an interest 




Clark's Inn, Oppositk State Housk, 1745 



among tlie members, whicli secured me the business of j)rinting the xotes, laws. ])a])er money, 
and other occasional jobs for the public. That, on the whole, was very profitable.'' So also, in 
1737. when the Postmaster (ieneral. Colonel Alexander Spottswood. of X'irginia. removed Andrew^ 
Bradford, projjrietor of the Mercury, from ahe post of de])uty i)ostmaster general at Philadel- 
]jhia, and gave it to branklin, he was fully ap])r(ciative of the fact that though the salary was 
small, "it facilitated the correspondence that improved my news|)a])er, increased the number 
demanded, as well as the advertisements to be inserted, so that it came to afi'ord me a consid- 
erable income." 

Franklin said that when Bradford was deimty postmaster general he had refused to deli\cr 
the (lazette to subscribers. But after the o(i\cQ changed hands, Franklin pursued a more gen- 



130 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

erous policy, so that both the Gazette and Mercury were deHxcrcd by the post-riders. Brad- 
ford died in 1742. but the Mercury, although its circulation and prestige had considerably 
dwindled, was published by other owners until it died, in 1746. Meanwhile William Bradford, 
a nephew of Andrew, wIto had succeeded to the Bradford printing business, had started the 
Pennsyhania Journal, which he conducted with al)ility. Franklin, in 1748, took David Hall 
as a partner in the })rinting business and turned over to him the active management of the 
enterprise. Franklin put his time almost wholly into the pubHc service and philosophical studies. 
The Journal, under William Bradford's management, soon became the more popular and 
influential paper. 

Franklin had always taken a good citizen's interest in i)uljlic atTairs. He was a strong 
advocate of popular education and a greater area for literary culture. In 1741 he began the 
pul)lication of The General Magazine, the first literary periodical, but after six months of 
insufficient patronage, discontinued it. In 1744 he Ijcgan the advocacy of an academy for Phila- 
delj)hia, and tried tcj jiersuade Rev. Richard Peters, Secretary of the Province, to undertake its 
inaitguration, but he had other plans, and Franklin held off from any specific move until he pub- 
lished, in 1749, his "Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania," as a result 
of which a Board of Tntstees for the proposed academy was selected, the members of which 
included Benjamin Franklin, James Logan, Francis Hopkinson, Richard Peters. Jacob Duche, 
and Philip Syng, besides others. Franklin, who was president, carried the weight of the enter- 
prise, securing the support of men of influence, and also obtaining premises for the Academy 
in the New^ Building, which Franklin had been the main factor in erecting for Rev. George 
Whiteheld. When the organization had been sufficiently adv'anced. Franklin tried to seciu^e Rev. 
Samuel Johnson to take charge of it, but he had l)een engaged to organize King's (which later 
became Columbia) College in New York. So Rev. William Smith was called to the work of 
organizing the Pennsylvania Academy. 

One of the most notable things accomplished by Franklin at this period was the "prepared- 
ness campaign." which he inaugurated in 1744, when just after the war with Spain l)egan it 
became apparent that France also would soon take arms against the British. The Quaker 
influence was still against any military preparation. Franklin wrote a pamphlet, "Plain Truth," 
which called puljlic attention to the great dangers that threatened the province and the immediate 
need of organization for defense. The pamphlet, translated into (4erman, stirred the young 
men of that race las much as those of British origin, and, in fact, the Germans organized the first 
company of the Associators, as the militia came to be called, of which an account has been pre- 
viously given. Franklin's work during this period completely overturned the non-resistance 
policy which had, up to that time, controlled the province, and secured results which every gov- 
ernor, from the first one, had vainly striven to accomplish. 

The Junto, the literary society of which mention has before been made as having l)een the 
forerunner of the American Philosophical Society, was also the founder of the Philadelphia 
Lil)rary, characterized by Franklin as "the mother of all the North American su])Scription lil)rar- 
ies." James Logan took a great interest in it, selecting most of the books bought for it in Eng- 
land. Shortly before his death he erected a building on Sixth and Walnut Streets, in which 
he jjlaced many of his own books, opening it as a puljlic reading room. This was, in accord- 
ance with his desire, turned over Ijy his heirs to the city, which named it the Loganian Library. 
In 1792 it was merged in the Philadelphia Librarv. to which it brought 3953 volumes of well 
selected classical literature. 

Benjamin Franklin was also a leading s])irit in the movement first projected l)y Dr. Thomas 
Bond, which resulted in the founding of the Pennsylvania Hospital, the first to be established in 
the city. Previous to that, such operations as had been performed had been at the almshouse. 



THE STORY OF PI llLADELPIIIA 131 

The liosi)ilal \\a^ charlc'rc'd in 1751, and a Board of Trustees was elected on July 1 of that year. 
The Assembly agreed to appropriate £2000 for the hospital, as soon as a like amount should 
l)e secured liv private suliscription. being induced to this action by the offer of Ors. Thomas and 
Thineas Bond and Dr. Lloyd Zachary to attend the ])atients without pay for three years. When 
the institution opened, February 10, 1752, in rented premises, not only these three, but also Drs. 
Thomas Cadwalader, TlTonias ( Iraeme, John Redman and I'reston Moore joined the hospital 
staff and gave free service and free medicines to the patients of the hosjiital. The managers 
bought a site on Pine Street for i500 in 1755, extending from I^ighth to Ninth Street, and soon 
after the I'eiins presented the remainder of that Ijlock, comprising the square now occupied 
In' the Iniildings. Tlie cornerstone of the first hns])ital l)uilding was laid, with ap[)ropriate cere- 
monies, and the patients were removed to it in December, 17o6. 

There was no regular census in those days, but \arious com])Utations sutficiently prove the 
fact that the city had steadily grown. A petition drawn up in 1744, asking the king to furnish 
forts and batteries for the city's protection descrii)ed I'hiladelphia as having 1500 homes and 
13,000 people. A more carefully prepared com|)utation in 1740, including the city from \'ine 
Street south to South Street, and the suburbs immediately adjoining on the north .and south, gave 
the number of dwellers' houses as 2076. Wicaco, on the south, had grown so substantially 
that in 1762 it was erected into the district of Southwark, disregarding its old Indian name. Of 
Pennsylvania at large Provost Smith, of Pennsylvania College reported in luigland in 1755 
that it contained 220.000 inhabitants. His division of it was one-third Germans, two-fifths 
Quakers, more than one-fifth Presbyterians and a few Baptists. Franklin in estimating it later, 
divided the population into three equal parts of Germans, Quakers and Scotch-Irish. 

From early youth Franklin was, in a desultory way, a student of scientific subjects, espe- 
cially in the realm of physics. In 1742 he invented the open-stove, for the better warming of 
rooms, the well-known "Franklin" stove still in use in rural places. In 1752, by simple experi- 
ments with a kite, he made one of the most important scientific discoveries of the Eighteenth 
Centurv. l)y these experiments proving that lightning is a discharge of electricity. This discov- 
ery secured him. in 1753, the Copley medal of the Royal Society, and made him an international 
figure. 

It has been narrated how Franklin became clerk of the Assembly, and afterward, in addi- 
tion to that oftice, deputy postmaster-general of the colonies for Pennsylvania. In 1750. hav- 
ing secured a partner, upon whom he could load the active work of his printing and publishing 
business, he felt that he could devote more attention to his scientific research and to public 
affairs, in which he had already taken a deep interest. He had been elected to the Common 
Council on October 4, 174S, qualified on November IK, and was appointed on the committee to 
prepare an address of welcome to Governor James Hamilton. At the outset of his ser\ice he 
brought up the subject of a reform in the night-watch, and was made one of a committee to draw 
up a petition to the Assembly for a remedy. He secured .appropriations for the new Academy 
building and for the support of teachers. He was elected Alderman October 1, 1751. with John 
Mifflin, and did important committee work in that capacity. He was appointed justice of the peace 
for P'hiladelphia County (the record, curiously enough, sjjelling his name Benjamin "Franklyn") 
by the Council on June 30. 1740, and was again commissioned in Ma\', 1752, and served two 
terms as a judge of Common Pleas. 

He was elected, in 1750, as a burgess to represent Philadel])hia County in the Assembly 
and was re-elected, serving for ten successive years, his son taking his place as clerk of that 
body. In his autobiograj)hy. Franklin enumerates these successive elections with much elation, 
saying that he was specially gratified by his change of position in the Assembly from one who 
could only listen to the debates to one who could take a part in them, and to a i)lace that would 



132 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



increase his power of doing good. "I would not. however," he continues, "insinuate that my 
ambition was not flattered by all these promotions; it certainly was, for, considering my low 
beginning, they were great things to me." His career in the Assembly was one of great influ- 
ence, and he became Speaker toward the end of his terms. 

During his first term as member of the Assemljly he and Isaac Norris. the Speaker, were 
sent to Carlisle as Commissioners to treat with the Indians. In 1733 he was. conjointly with 
William Hunter, appointed postmaster-general of America. In 1754 he attended the Ceneral 
Colonial Convention, at Albany, and proposed his "Plan of Union" for the colonies, which was 
adopted. On his return he found Governor Morris embroiled with the Assembly, and he 
entered into leadership of the fight against the projjrietary government. His "IMan of Union" 
was designed to i)lace all the colonies under one government, so far as might be necessary for 
defense and for other important general purposes. This plan was inimical to proprietary gov- 
ernment and also, from b:ighteenth Century standards was not conducive to very great acquies- 
cence in the rule of a Motherland beyond seas which would deny self-rule to such a union. But 




The Willing House 



the day of the revolutionary idea had not yet arrived. The i)lan of Franklin conceived a first 
approach to some such home-rule and imperial connection as makes Canada a free democracy 
and at the same time a component and influential part of the British lunpire. As to proprietary 
government. iM-anklin saw how utterly inimical to the ])rogress of Pennsylvania was such a 
form of family rule, with proprietors at ease in luigland, drawing a large income from the 
province and at the same time refusing to pay taxes on their waste lands. The ability of his 
leadershi]) of this opposition to the proprietary, caused Franklin to l)e appointed, m 17?3, to 
visit England and lay the matter before the crown authorities, a commission which he later suc- 
cessfully accomplished. 

Meanwhile the Indian troubles had come alumt and the struggle between the Quaker party 
and their o])ponents over measures for defense Ijecanie intensified after Braddock's defeat. 
That event had given the Indians an emphasized idea of their power to cojjc with the colonies. 
That defensive measures were needed was so evident that there was great activity in the organ- 
izing forces and ])reparing defensive armaments. Covernor Morris personally su])erintended the 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 133 



(.Ti'ction f)f forts and l)lock houses on the fronliiM-, and Franklin, in the winter went into the 
J.ehi.yh \aHey. where tlie Inchans liad l)tn-ned the Aloraxian villafi;-e of ( Inadenhutten. and there 
superintended the erection of defensive forts. 

After that expedition. JM-ankhn returned to the city wliere he was elected colonel of the 
city regiment. The regiment was organized and thoroughly drilled, and in March. 1736, paraded 
through the city and made an impressive display of military training and e(|uipment. In the 
summer of 1756 war was declared hetween France and iMigland, the i)roclamation of the news 
in Philadelphia Ijeing made, with appropriate -eremony, on August 12. lught days later a new 
governor of . Pennsylvania arrived, in the person of Colonel \\'illiam Denny. Ciovernor Morris 
was very unpopular, and, therefore, (iovernor D^nny recei\-ed a Nociferous reception, although 
he was not known to the people, so that the rejoicing was more for the end of the old than the 
love of the new. Yet. as it turned out. Denny was to hecome more obnoxious to the jjopulacc 
than Morris. He was more subservient to the will of the proprietors than his predecessor. He 
found a quick road to unpopularity soon after his arrival l)y threatening to billet the king's 
troo])s in private houses. This threw the poptilation into a turmoil. Init it subsided considerablv 
when empty buildings were found to accommodate the soldiers and other makeshifts were titil- 
ized until the Ijarracks. in the Northern Liberties, were completed, in 17.^7. 

F'ranklin started on his mission to England in 1757. and there he began his successful 
career by pleading the cause of the colonists against the proprietors, insisting that the latter 
should i)ay their share of the taxes due on property and otherwise meet such demands as were 
levied on other propertyholders. He also i)resented the view of the majority of the inhabi- 
tants that they would prefer that the crown should resume its ownershij), there being a pro- 
vision in the original charter to William Penn that this could be done by payment of a certain 
>uiu to the ])ro|)rietors. 

So far as the complaints against the proprietors Franklin achieved a victory, the pro])rie- 
tors being informed that they must meet just burdens of ownership, and when he returned, in 
1762. he received the formal thanks of the As^emjjly. 

While in England Franklin recei\ed great honors for his discoveries and writings and the 
LL. D. degree was conferred upon him. Jwnoris causa by the Uni\ersities of ( )xford and lulin- 
])urgh. XA'hen he went to iMigland in 1757 George II was king; but while he was there, toward 
the close of 1760. the king died, and his son. (ieorge HI. reigned in his stead. In Philadel- 
phia the accession of the new king was celebrated with great festivities and loval displav on 
January 21. 1761. The war in America had be^n ended l)y the victories at Ticonderoga. of 
Wolfe at Ouebec. in 1759, and the submission of Canada and ca])ture of Montreal ])v Lord Am- 
herst in 1760. The year 1759 had been one of continuous triumph for British arms. The war 
went on for several years, but 1759 was the turning point, and the Peace of Paris, made in 
1.764, was a teriuination to the Seven Years' War whicli brought the British the masterv of the 
ocean which they have ever since held. 

In Philadelphia, meanwhile, British troops had made the city their head(piarters. the 62nd 
Highlanders under Colonel Alontgomery, and the 17th F'^oot under I'rigadier-General John 
Forbes. Forbes died in Idiiladelphia in March, 1759, and was buried in Christ Church, with 
a military funeral of more elaborate ceremony than had ever before been seen in Philadel])hia. 
A great cele])ration followed the news of the fall of Quebec, and soon after the peo])Ie of Phila- 
delphia were rejoiced by the appointment of James Idaiuilton. former governor, to another 
term to succeed the unpopular (iovernor Denny. 

d'he conflicts on American soil between th - British and French had scarcely ended when 
there was a general outbreak of Indians on the frontier of civilization in F'ennsylvania. They 
committed many outrages against the Scotch and Irish settlers of that region, who, with Celtic 



134 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



vigor set out to avenge them with equal cruehy. The settlers of the townships of Donegal and 
Paxtang banded themselves in an avenging organization which became popularly known as 
"the Paxton Boys" to kill, indiscriminately, every Indian they could find. The Moravians had 
sent missionaries to Christianize the Indians, and had been more successful than any other sect 
in that direction. Some of these Christian Indians were living in a village in Conestoga. The 
"Paxton Boys" raided the village while most of the men were absent, and killed many of the 
Indians. Those who fled w'ere taken to Lancaster jail for official protection, but the mob broke 
open the jail and massacred several more of these Indians. In November, 1763, Bernhard 
Adam Grube, Moravian missionary, brought 127 of these Indians to Philadelphia. Many of 
the people of Philadeli)hia were at first very hostile in demeanor toward the Indians and their 
missionary, who were taken first to the barracks and later to the pest-house on Province Island. 
The "Paxton Boys" were reported as threatening to march to Philadelphia and attack the 
Indians there, and this threat created a diversion of opinion among the English element in Phila- 
delphia in behalf of the Indians. In January, 1764, the news that a mob was being organized in 
the West for a descent upon the city caused the Indians to petition the governor to send them 
to England, with their pastors. The governor then was "Young John" Penn, son of Richard 
and grandson of the Founder, who had resided in the province for some time, preparing him- 
self, by first-hand acquaintance with the situation, for the work of provincial adnfinistration. He 
determined to send them to New York and from there to Albany, and started them under guard 
of a company of Highlanders, but when the Indians and their guard reached Amboy it was found 
that New York declined to receive them, so that they were compelled to return to Philadelphia 
and were housed in the barracks in the Northern Liberties under nfilitary guard. Rumor suc- 
ceeded rumor and finally definite word came that the "Paxton Boys" were on the way. When 
thev came there were only about two hundred of them, all Scotch-Irish frontiersmen with fringed 
hunting shirts, moccasins and other frontier habiliments, raccoon caps, and the like. A commit- 
tee went out to them and heard their grievances, and there was tense excitement, the citizens 
generally, including many Quakers, having armed themselves for defense. But the Lancaster 
men headed their horses West, and in a few days the town was quiet again and the Indians 
were not disturbed by their frontier foes, but the small-pox broke out among them, and fifty of 
them were buried in the potter's field, now Washington Square. 

The campaign against the Indians on the frontier was pushed with vigor, the British troops 
driving as far as Detroit. To partly appease the "Paxton Boys" and the frontiersmen gener- 
ally a schedule of bounties for scalps was promulgated ofi:"ering pieces-of-eight (Spanish dol- 
lars) to the number of 134 for every male Indian above ten years of age. 50 pieces-of-eight 
for every female above that age; 150 and 130 pieces would be respectively paid for males and 
females who were brought in as prisoners. 

When Franklin returned in 1762 he found the issue of the proprietary government still an 
active one. with a sharp division of the people on the question, though so far as numbers were 
concerned those opposed were in the minority. He had been annually elected to the Assembly 
during his absence in England, and therefore was a member when he returned. The basis of 
representation in the Assembly was not based equally on population, and so in 1764 Franklin 
was defeated for the Assembly on the anti-proprietary issue, though soon after he was again 
selected to go abroad and to endeavor to have the Crown resume the government of the Prov- 
ince. He found that there was no great inclination at the court for that proposition, but it soon 
occurred that the attitude of the government of George III toward the colonies generally was 
raising questions of greater importance than that involved in the anti-proprietary issue. 

Measures for the taxation of the colonies were brewing in London. George HI, who had 
hated his father, had regarded as a weakness what he deemed to be his father's subserviency to^ 



THE STORY OF PlflLADELPHIA 



135 



I'itt. His nioiher had constantly admonished hint that when he should become king he should 
be king indeed. So "George, be king," became the ruling motto of his stubborn little mind. The 
hrst of his political efforts was to dri\e Pitt, popular idol, from ])ower, and t(j lind a premier 
who would be a mere agent of the king's will. JJrielly the situation cannot be more correctly 
ej)itomized than in this extract from Green : 

"The royal revenue was employed to buy seats and vcHes. Day Ijv day the young sovereign 
"scrutinized the voting list of the two houses, and distributed rewards and punishments as mem- 
"bers voted for or against his will. Promotion in the civil service, preferment in the Church, 
"rank in thv army, was reserved for 'the king's friends.' 1'ensions and court j)laces were used 




Building of the Frigate Piiiladei.phi.^ 



"to influence debates. Bribery was employed on a scale never before known. Under Bute's 
"ministry an office was opened at the Treasury for the ])urchase of meml)ers, and £25.000 are 
"said to have been paid in a single day." 

After the war with France and Spain, increasing the public debt to the then unprecedented 
total of i 140,000,000, it began to l)e said that as this was partly incurred in defense of America, 
a share of the burden should be borne by the colonies. Bute's secretary, Jenkinson, who was 
afterward created the first Lord Liverpool, devised the plan which was afterward crystal- 
lized in the Stamp Act of March 22, 1765, introduced during the ministry of Lord 
Grenville, who had succeeded Bute as premier. It prescribed (1) that stamped paper be used 
for legal and official documents, diplomas and certificates; (2) that stamps be placed on playing 
cards, dice, books (excepting those used in the schools), newspapers, pamphlets, calendars, 
almanacs, and various other articles; and (3) that jury trials be denied to offenders at the dis- 
cretion of the authorized prosecuting officers. 'Jliis act, which was to become effective Novem- 
ber 1, 1765, was entitled "An Act for Granting and Supplying Certain Stamp Duties and Other 
Duties, in the British Colonies and Plantations of America, Towards Further Defraying the 



136 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



l^xpenses of Defendiiii;, I'rotcctiny; and Scciiriiii^ tlie Same." A notaljle feature of the discus- 
sion of the bill before its ])assase was the speech of the gallant Colonel Isaac Barre, a member 
of the Parliament, who had Ijeen a lieutenant-colonel with Wolfe in Canada and was wounded 
at Quebec in 1759. In lauding the Americans he incidentally referred to them as "Sons of Lib- 
ertv." a name lliat bt'came historic. 

News of the i)assage of the act and of the apjiointment of John Hughes, member of the 
Assembly and partisan of Franklin, as distributor of stam])s was announced in Philadelphia on 
Mav 30. 1765. (Ireat resentment was manifested, and Franklin's enemies circulated the report 
that he had asked for the ])Osition of distributor for himself. It is true that he had recommended 
TTughes. No concerted action was taken. It was known that the Stamp Act had passed by a 
ministerial Note against strong opposition, and they looked for a new ministry which would force 
its re|)eal. On a Sunday in September news came that the Grenville ministry had gone out of 
office and a new ministry, headed by the Marquis of Rockingham, had been formed. Taking this 
as a practical guarantee of the immediate repeal oi the obnoxious Stamp Act, great elation was 
exhibited and on the next day the bells were rung all day, loyal toasts were pledged, and at night 
l)onfires testified to the jov of the people. There was also resentment against those suspected of 
svm])athv with the unpoi)uIar act, an eftigy of John Hughes was erected and burned and a mob 
surrounded his house, threatening violence. Hughes, in alarm, wrote to Governor Penn under 
date of Se])tember 17, and to John Dickinson, ( )ctober 3, that he had received no notice of his 
ap])ointment. no stam])S, bond, or anything connected with the matter. When, a few days later 
the stamps arrived at New Castle, he was afraid to take possession of them. On October 5, when 
he was ill in bed. a crowd, following muffled drums while muffled church bells were ringing, sur- 
rounded his house, a son of Chief Justice Allen being leader. A committee composed of Rob- 
ert Morris, Charles Thomson, Archibald McCall, John Cox, William Richards, and William 
Bradford, waited on Hughes and received his written pledge not to attemj^t to perform the func- 
tions of his new office. 

As in Philadel])hia. so elsewhere in the colonies, the Stamp Act aroused the people to white 
heat. In X'irginia, in Massachusetts, New York, and all the iM"ovinces resolutions against the 
Act were passed as an unwarranted invasion of their liberties as British subjects to be taxed 
onl\- bv their own consent. A Stamp Act Congress, with rej)resentatives from the various col- 
onies, including John Dickinson, "the penman of the Revolution," from Philadelphia, met in 
New ^'ork, ( )ctober 7 to 2S. and adojjted a "Declaration of Rights and Cirievances," an able 
document variously ascril)ed to John Cruger, of New York, and John Dickinson as author, a 
bold and thoughtful declaration. This Congress has been characterized by Green, the historian, as 
"the beginning of the American Union." Other action was the signing of Non-Importation 
Agreements pledging the merchants and traders of the cities to import no goods from Great 
Britain until the Stamp Act should be repealed, that in Philadeljjhia being signed by practically 
all the business men and leading citizens of the ])lace. including many who later became Tories. 
An anonymous address to "Friends and Countrymen." doubtless the work of John Dickinson, 
created a great impression, and was a bold and fervid appeal. Organizations of "Sons of Lib- 
erty" and "Daughters of Liberty" were formed. West Indian newspapers which arrived with 
the hated stamps affixed were ])ublicly burned, and the excitement against stamps continued until 
news arrived, by the brig Minerva, May 20, 1766, that the Stamp Act had been repealed. 

Great was the rejoicing. Captain Wise, ski])])er of the Minerva, was taken to the Coffee 
House, treated to punch out of a golden bowl, and was jM-esented with a gold-braided cocked 
hat. The populace made merry at night, being regaled with free beer in unlimited quantities 
and free wood to keep up bonfires. Pitt was the idol of the hour and a supply of medals with 
the portrait of the Great Commoner was soon exhausted by a great demand. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



137 



Lo\-alt)' was superwann following Uil- reijcal of ihr Slanip Act. and June 4, l)irlhday of 
(ieorge 111 was enthusiastically celebrated. Importation (jf goods from England was resumed. 
The Court and the Province were at peace for the time Ijcing. lUit the Court was plotting fur- 
ther mischief. The Stamp .\ct folly was to be followed by others. The Stamp Act agitation 
was the prologue to the great drama of Revolution which was soon to follow. 




Woodlands — Residence of 'phe H.amiltons 



CHAPTER 



ELEVEN 



FROM THE TROUBLE ABOUT TEA TO THE 
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 



So little wisdom resided in the Tory party in England that its leaders seemed to be unable 
to learn anything from the Stamp Act fight. Its result should have been to impress upon the 
government the firm intent of the Americans to resist taxation in any form which they had no 
hand in making. Charles Townsend, in May, 1767, introduced in Parliament his bill which 
passed on June 29, levying duties in the colonies on 
paper, glass, painters' colors, lead, and tea. When 
news of this came, the Selectmen of Boston asked the 
Corporation of Philadelphia to co-operate with them 
in a policy of non-importation, which had been agreed 
upon in a public meeting held in Boston on October 28. 
The answer was an expression of mild sympathy, but 
committed Philadel])hia to no action. 

Not only was this act a source of great resentment, 
but there were many other causes of irritation pre- 
sented in the laws of England pertaining to Colonial 
commerce and industry. The trend of the entire policy 
was restrictive of nmnufactures of anything which 
could be imported from England. That country was 
glad to import pig and bar iron from America, but 
prohibited the setting up of steel furnaces, forges and 
slitting mills. It was not only a burdensome enact- 
ment, but a foolish one, because there were only four 
or five steel furnaces in England, and the product of 
these furnaces was so small that the British demand 
was supplied from Germany. Yet America, with un- 
limited supplies of iron ore, was required to pay freight on this raw material, and at the same 
time was expected to procure all its nails, hoes, stovepipes and other manufactures of iron and 
steel exclusively from England. Export trade in hats, the carrying of native wool and woolen 
goods from one colony with another, commerce with foreign countries other than via England, 
as well as other equally galling restrictions on trade were continual causes of friction in the 
colonies, though many of these restrictions were constantly violated. 

It is said that the restrictive statute against the building of any more foundries, slitting- 
mills, tilt-hammer forges, or steel foundries was the result of a visit of a Pennsylvania store- 
keeper to England to buy goods. In one of the wholesale houses he visited he said, on being 
informed of the price of nails : 

"Why. I can buy better nails for less money from John Taylor, of Sarum, Pennsylvania." 

"lohn Taylor's nails" became the rallying-cry of the ]:)rotectionists in Parliament, where the 
question was brought up. Lord Chatham declared that he "would not allow the colonists to 
make even a hobnail for themselves." 

Iliese various restrictions were changed from time to time, but there were always enough 
of them to keep the colonists irritated. Townsend's new tax law set the colonies wild again, 
lohn Dickinson. Quaker by blood, was the most ardent advocate of resistance to English 




The Liberty Bell 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



139 



imposts and restrictions, and lie l)ei;an, in the Chronicle, the puhlicalion (jf "Letters of a Farmer 
of Pennsylvania to the lnhal)itants of the British Colonies." copies of which were widely distrib- 
uted and had immediate effect u})on public opinion. Me became one of the most ])opular men 
in America, received a \()te of thanks from the Koslon town-meeting', was elected an honorar\- 
member of the Society of Fort St. David's, Philadelphia, with the freedom of its guild in a 
box made of heart of oak, lettered in gold. Meetings of protest and non-importation were held 
in the citv. A carg'o of malt came, consigned to Amos Strettel, who denied any knowledge of 
it. The brewers of the city met and declined to buy or brew it, and other cargoes that cann 
were also sent back, so that il was soon recognized as dangerous to attempt to violate the non- 
importation agreement, .\nother instance of this feeling was the treatment in Philadelphia of 
an informer who had lodged charges of smuggling against indi\iduals. lie was caught, ducked. 
})illoried. tarred, feathered and then paraded through the streets. 

Though great \igi lance was exercised to de- 
tect, ])re\ent and punish violations of the non- 
importation agreement, there were some who 
tried to e\ade it, though those who were caught 
were denounced as pubhc enemies. The brig 
Speedwell, which arrived in August. 1769, was 
laden with dry goods, bought on small orders in 
F.ngland and forwarded before the non-impor- 
tation agreement. Under these circumstances it 
was decided not to send the goods back, but to 
store them for safekee}Mng until the despised law 
should be repealed. A man who was caught 
buying cheese of the mate of the Speedwell was 
waited upon l)\- the Committee of Merchants, 
whose strong re])rol)ation of the act influenced 
him to give the cheese to the poor debtors in jail 
and to give them $2 to buy bread to eat with it. 
( )ther purchasers of cheese from that mate were 
made to add beer to the cheese and' bread in order 
lo sa\e their names from publication. 

With the rise of prices came a greater tend- 
ency to violate the non-importation agreement. 
Part of the agreement had to do with the mainte- 
nance of prices, but it was inevitable that under 
the embargo conditions there would be forestall- 
ers who would get for their goods all the traffic 
would bear. A commodity in general consumption which reached a degree of scarcity generally 
regarded as calamitous. Those who held stocks of tea combined and ran the price up from 
three shillings and three pence to five shillings ])er pound. This advance was freely denounced 
and threats were made to pillory the conspirators in the jiublic press. The dry goods dealers, 
who were hard hit by the efifects of the non-imi)ortation agreement, were under suspicion of wav- 
ering in their allegiance to it, but they indignantly denied it. In Fngland. commerce was badly 
demoralized by the ])ractical suspension of trade brought about l)y the non-im])ortation program 
and gradually changes were made so that all of the obnoxious duties were taken otT except that 
on tea, left for the express purpose of maintaining the right of Parliament to tax the colonies. 
This narrowed the issue so that the colonies were able to concentrate their attacks. But 
for a considera1)le time the effort was continued to compel the signers of the non-importation 




George W.^shingion 



140 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



agreements to continue them in force until the tea tax. last of the imposts, was repealed. New- 
])ort. Rhode Island, and New York decided to recede from all non-importation agreements 
except that relating to tea. There W'as an indignation meeting at the State House in Philadel- 
phia at which this conduct of New York was denounced as "sordid and selfish." Furthermore, 
a resolution of non-intercourse with New York was adopted, and a resolution made to buy 
no goods from that city except "alkaline salt, skins, furs, flax and hemp." But by the autumn 
\i had begun to be realized that further adherence to the non-importation agreement as to 
goods no longer taxed was an ineffectual policy, and would, in fact, be surrendering to New 
York and other centers a trade of great value to Philadelphia. There was, therefore, a change 
of policy which resulted in the eft'ective concertration of colonial attack on the importation of 
tea. 

Before the special colonial tax on tea h::d been imposed, as well as afterward, all tea 
had been handled by the East India Company, which shipped it from the country of its ori- 
gin to England, where it paid duty. The threepenny duty imposed on colonial importations was 
additional to this. In the American colonies the people decided to use no tea until this tax was 
taken oft'. When, in 1773, the East India Conii)any found its entire tea trade paralyzed it thought 
to allay the opposition by a new expedient, and secured the passage through Parliament of an 
act authorizing the company to export teas to America free of the duty charged by the home 
government. Then they let it be known in the colonies that tea would be sold them at a price 
lower than in England. This was resented very bitterly as an attempt to bribe the colonies 
into a position which would yield on their firm princijjle of non-submission to taxation without 
representation. It roused the people to firmer resolve and many ])u])lic meetings were held and 
strong associations and combinations were formed to prevent the landing and sale of tea, car- 
goes of which were known to be on the way. In the various ports "commissioners" had been 
appointed to handle the tea. in the same manner that distributors had been appointed to dis- 
pense stamps, and the new office Ijecame as unpopular as the former one. 

Pamphleteering and handbills formed a potent weapon of public opinion at this period. 
Some of the handbills were signed "^lle Committee for Tarring and Feathering." It was 
known that the shi]) consigned with tea to Philadelphia was The Polly. On Christmas Day an 
express came in, bringing news of the arrival of the vessel at Chester. Gilbert Barclay, who 
was one of the consignees of the tea. had come aboard the vessel from Eondon. He came from 
Chester in advance (jf the ship, was waited upon Ijy the committee and when informed of the 
local situation immediately resigned as tea commissioner. Committees were appointed, one to 
go to Gloucester Point and another to visit Chester to intercept The Polly and reason with Ca])- 
tain .\vres. The comnnttee that went to Chester found he had gone, but the other came up 
with him. He agreed not to unload the tea when he learned of the state of pul)lic feeling, and 
also the news of the "Boston Tea Party," which had ocurred on December 16. of which Paul 
Revere had just brought the news. A meeting was held at the State House on Monday, Decem- 
l)er 27. at which the following resolutions were adopted : 

"Resolved. 1. That the tea on board the ship I'olly. Captain Ayres, shall not be landed. 

"2. That Captain Ayres shall neither enter nor report his vessel at the Custom House. 

"3. That Captain Ayres shall carry back the tea immediately. 

"4. That Caj)tain Ayres shall immediately send a pilot on board his vessel, with orders to 
take charge of her and to proceed to Reedy Island next highwater. 

"5. That the ca])tain shall be allowed to stay in town till tomorrow, to provide necessaries 
for his voyage. 

"6. That he shall then be obliged to leave town and proceed to his vessel, and make the 
liest of his wav out of our river and bav. ' 



Tim STORY OT' I'lllLAIlELPTUA 



111 



"7. Thai a coniniittee of four gentlemen be api:)ointed to see tliese resol\e> carried into 
execution." 

The meeting-, which eight thousand people attended, was earnest and orderl)'. it lilled the 
Stale House yard and adjoining streets and was hy far the largest assemhlv the city had seen 
up to that lime. C'aj)taiu .\yres ])ledged himself to complete obedience to the resolutions. The 
shi]). with a pilot on board, weighed anchor within two hours after the meeting and went down 
the ri\cr. Xext day the captain and Culbert Barclay were escorted by a great multitude to the 
.\rch .Street Wharf, and were cheered lustily as they embarked on a ])ilot boat to join the shi]i 
at Reedy Island, which rt'lurued with cargo untouched, though it contained consignments of 
merchandise other than tea, including a chariot, which had been liought in b'.ugland by Thomas 
Wharton, one of the tea commissiduers. and a bell for the ( lermautown Union Schoolhouse. 




The Dkparture of thk PoLr.v 



Goxernor John I'eun received from the Earl of Dartmouth, who had succeeded Lord Hills- 
borough as Secretary of State for the colonies in 1772. a rebuke for what he termed "the insult 
that has been offered to this kingdom l)y the inhabitants of Philadelphia." But Dartmouth, who 
had for some time carried on a corresj)(jndence with Joseph \\i:Q(\, of Pbiladt'lphia. had been 
quite fully apprised of the state of popular feeling, and when Governor I'enn, apologizing and 
explaining, rejilied to Lord Dartmouth the Government excused him. But while the demon- 
stration of the grim determination of the American people not to submit was emi)hatic, the whole 
Government — King, Privy Council and Parliament — was blind to the signs of the times, and the 
portents which the general dissatisfaction of Americans emphasized. As a measure of reprisal 



142 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



for the "Boston Tea Party'' the Parhanient passed an act to close the port of Boston and to 
transfer its trade and custom house to Salem. Paul Revere was sent from Boston, May 13, 
1774, to secure the backing of Philadelphia in protest against this arbitrary action. A meet- 
ing was held on May 20 at the City Tavern, on Second Street, above Walnut Street, at which 
a committee was organized, composed of John Dickinson, William Smith, Edward Penington, 
Joseph Fox, John Nixon, John Maxwell Nesbitt, Samuel Howell, Thomas Mifflin, Joseph 
Reed, Thomas Wharton, Jr., Benjamin Marshall, Joseph Moulder, Thomas Barclay, George 
Clymer, Charles Thomson, Jeremiah Warder, Jr., John Cox, John Gibson, and Thomas Pen- 
rose. This was given atithority to act for the people, to call public meetings and to correspond 
with the other colonies. A sul)-conimittee next day gave Paul Revere a letter to take back to 
Boston. The letter, which was written by Provost Smith, strongly supported the views of the 
Boston Committee on taxation and the cause of American liberty, but recommended "prudence 
and moderation." 




The House in which Washington Resided while he was President, on High, 

NOW Market, Street. Robert Morris's Home Stands at the 

Right, at the Corner of Sixth Street 



The people of I'hiladelphia were more fervid in the partisanship than was the committee, 
for the Boston Port Bill was a defiance of American rights which solidified the populace against 
Tory arrogance. Governor John Penn was requested to call the Assembly to act in sympathy 
with other colonies against this action in London, but he was too prudent to thus flaunt his 
authority in the face of the Home Government. He therefore refused to call the Assembly for 
that purpose, but a few days later did call the Assembly to deal with the subject of Indian raids 
on the border. 

( )n June 1, 1774, the day appointed for the closing of the Port of Boston, most of the busi- 
ness places in Philadelphia were closed. The craft in the river carried their flags at half mast. 
Most of the churches were open, and special sermons were preached. Christ Church was 
closed, l)ut some enterprising patriot managed to get into the steeple and toll the Ijell. A meet- 
ing of citizens was called for June 15, and arranged a mass meeting for the 18th. When this 
larger meeting came together it was declared to Ije its view that the Boston Port Bill was 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



unconstitutional, tliat it was necessary to call a Continental C'onj^Tcss. A committee of corre- 
s])on(lence for Philadelphia City and Coimty was a])])ointt'd to sound the opinion of the i)CO])le as 
to the appointment of delegates to a general congress and to raise a suhscri])tion for the relief of 
suiterers in Boston. This committee numhered fortN'-fiNc of l'hiladel])hia's most ])rominent 
UK'U. and meeting on July \?[\\ formulated the decisions of the con\-ention asserting colonial 
rights, condemning the action of the English Parliament, favoring a Colonial Congress to take 
united action, and pledging the co-operation of Pennsyhania with the other colonies. The Pro- 
vincial Assemhly, which had already l)een called to deal with Indian affairs, was requested to 
appoint de])Uties to the Congress. The Assemhly. meeting on July 21, took up the propositions 
of the conxention. approved them, and appointed Joseph Calloway (Speaker of the Assemhly), 
Saiuutl Rhoads, 'Jdiomas Mifflin. Charles llumphreys. (icorge Russ and lulward Piddle as depu- 
ties of Pennsyhania to Congress. 

Franklin, in Pondon, had as representative not only of Pennsylvania, hut also of Massachu- 
setts, adxdcated the {)0{)ular cause hefore the British hoards and councils, lie had gone to Eng- 
land as the representative of that cause hefore the Stamp Act trouhle. lie tried hard to induce 
the Government against the passage of that act. hut he failed in his estimate of the degree of 
the resentment it would invoke, for after the act was passed he had counseled the liheral lead- 
ers in Pennsylvania to suhmit to the act, and he had himself proposed the names of John 
Hughes and William Eranklin as Stamp collectors, and they were commissioned on the strength 
of his suggestion. j 

AMien Franklin was sent to England as agent of Pennsylvania he was looked- upon as a 
self-seeker and a good deal of a demagogue hy the wealthier and more cultured citizens, hut 
he held the complete confidence of the masses. 1liat confidence had been badly shaken hy his 
willingness to condone the Stamp Act, and many harsh things were said of him by the press 
and puljlic. He continued, however, to act as agent for Pennsylvania and also for Massachusetts 
and (Georgia, and presented the frequent remonstrances that came from the colonies in connec- 
tion with successive encroachments upon American rights and liberties. 

In the tea controversy his w^as the most potent voice in behalf of the colonial contention in 
London, and as representative of Massachusetts he was the vigorous advocate of the plea of 
that colony for the removal of Governor Thomas Hutchinson and Andrew Oliver, his brother- 
in-law. who was lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts. These ofticials had. dujing the Stamp 
Act and "Tea-party" period, been in regular correspondence with Thomas W'hately. who had 
been private secretary to Lord Grenville. In this correspondence Hutchinson dei)lore(l the weak- 
ness of the royal government in Massachusetts, and the need for a strong military force to 
uphold it ; condemned the conduct of Samuel Adams and the other popular leaders as seditious, 
and complained of the turbulence of the population of Boston. He held it was not possible for 
a colony separated by three thousand miles of ocean to enjoy all the liberties of the mother 
country without severing its connection with her. He declared his opinion that Massachusetts 
nuist submit to "an abridgment of what are called English liberties." ( )liver. in addition t^ 
similar views of colonial policy in general, made the specific recommendation that judges and 
other crown officers should have fixed salaries assigned them by the crown, so that they should 
1)6 independent of popular favor. Thomas Whately died in June. 1772, and all his papers went 
into the hands of his l)rother, William Whately, who was his executor. William had not yet 
.opened or looked over the ])ackage of letters from Plutchinson and Oliver to his brother when, in 
December. 1772, it was found that they had been purloined. 

How. or in what manner the correspondence reached the hands of Franklin will probably 
never be known, but he received them in some way and, as Lord North's government was 
trying to have the salaries of colonial judges fixed and paid hy the crown, as suggested hy Oliver, 



144 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



instead of by the Provincial Assembly, he felt it his duty to let the poi)ular leaders, who were 
then greatly wrought up over that very question of Crown-controlled judges, see the source of 
the suggestion. He therefore sent the letters to America for the private perusal of the patriotic 
leaders, desiring that they be kept confidential. 

In Boston the importance of these letters so impressed the popular leaders that they decided 
to publish them in a jjamphlet as a proof of treachery to the province of Massachusetts on the 
part of its executors. The publication caused a great sensation on both sides of the Atlantic. 
William Whately charged a Mr. 'J\nni)le with the theft, and a duel was fought in which 
Whately was wounded. When this came to the knowledge of Franklin he published a card 
exonerating others that had l)een mentioned and taking the blame upon himself. Franklin's 
boldness made him the target for the assaults of the Court party. His influence was great, for 
he had gained a conspicuous place as scientist and man of letters, and had made some valuable 
acquaintances among ])ublic men of liberal political views. The Court cabal sought to destroy 
his influence and ])rought him before the Privy Council on January 29, 1774. Wedderburn, a 
Scotch advocate, then holding the oftice of solicitor-general, whose reputation for coarse bru- 
tality had been established in many cases, was chosen as the instrument of this destruction. 
Wedderburn subjected Franklin to a grilling examination which was insulting in the highest 
degree, and made a speech of great bitterness, which Franklin listened to, apparently unmoved. 
Severe as the ordeal was, Franklin bore it with dignity and brave courage, and aljated not one 
jot his zeal for the colonial cause. When news of the insults to its greatest citizen came, Phila- 
delphia was in a condition of patriotic fervor which made it quite ready to put Franklin on 
a pedestal. All ranks of the ])eo})le resented the scurrilous treatment that had l)een accorded 
Franklin, who became an object of veneration to the |)atriots in all the colonies. In Philadelphia, 
on May 3, 1774, a public demonstration was held in which effigies of Governor Hutchinson and 
Wedderburn were drawn through the streets on a cart and afterward l)urned. 

The first Continental Congress met in Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, on September 4, 
1774. Delegates were present from eleven jjrovinces. Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, was chosen 
president, and Charles Hiomson, of Philadelphia, was selected as .secretary. It was a most dis- 
tinguished gathering, with such men as George Washington, Patrick Henry, Peyton Randolph. 
Richard Henry Tee, Samuel Adams, John Adams, John Jay, Pendleton, Gadsden, Rutledge, 
Hopkins, Duane, Ward Sullivan, Gushing Bland, John Dickinson, and others. It was harmoni- 
ous and much of one mind except that (ialloway and Duane were active in endeavors to obstruct 
or delay the proceedings, lint nothing was hurried or precipitate. The Congress did its work 
and did it well, remaining in session for two months. It made the last aj^peals to (ireat Britain 
before taking the crucial steji of indejjendence, ado}jting a solemn declaration of colonial rights, 
a memorial to the people of Great Britain, and another to King George HI. It declared the 
sympathy and invoked the aid of the people of all the colonies for the people of Massachusetts. 
It declared against any importations and formed an association to pre\ent them, and when it had 
finished its business, adjourned. 

Hie proceedings of the Congress had the entire approval of the ])eople all over the colo- 
nies. The Pennsylvania Assembly passed unanimous approval of the Congress and its proceed- 
ings, re-elected its delegates to serve in the next Congress, except that John Martin was selected 
in place of Samuel Rhoads, who had been elected Mayor of Philadelphia, and Joseph Galloway 
was permitted to withdraw from the delegation. Franklin returned from England in May, 1775, 
and was at once elected a delegate, and Thomas Willing and James Wilson were also added to 
the delegation. 

A new committee was chosen in Philadelph ia to take the place of the old Committee of 
Correspondence, and to take charge of the business of regulating importations and promoting 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



145 



home industries. The committee consisted of lOS citizens, of whom Ol represented the citv, 
4 Southwark, 2 Kensington, and 41 the county of l'hiladeli)hi;i. Six suh-committees of inspec- 
tion and ol)servation were formed, and one committee kept in session each day at the Coffee 
House to watch the arrival of vessels and inspect tlieir cargoes in accordance with the rules of 
the Association which had keen organized hy Congress. The goods arriving had to l)e sold in 
parcels, none less than £o nor more than £15 in \alne. .Salt or coal arriving from (ireat Brit- 
ain was to be sold at i)uklic sale Ijy cargo or less at the o])tion of the consignee, under direction 
of the Committee. 

Importers had the option, mider inspection, to send hack their goods, to store them, or to 
sell them in accordance with the terms of the Association. Citizens were advised not to buy 
or use mutton or lamb jjetween January 1 and May, 1775. and no ewe lamb until October 1. The 
sixty-one l)utchers, almost all ( ierman, agreed unanimously not to kill the animals mentioned 




Washington's Carriage 



within the time specified, and signed a written pledge to that effect. The restrictions on imports 
led to the founding of numerous important manufactures : glass works at Kensington by John 
Elliott & Co. ; American carpets, by William Cal verly in Loxley's Court; spermeceti works, at 
Arch and Sixth Streets ; American porter was brew^ed by Hare ; and American playing cards were 
made by Edward Ryves, in Pine Street, near Third Street. 

Smuggling was smiled upon by Philadelphians. King's officers who had seized several hogs- 
heads of sugar which had not paid the duty, were beaten off by a mob, and the sugar distributed. 
A ship, the Isabella, American, bringing a contraband cargo from Dunkirk, France, was boarded 
by Francis Welsh, tide-waiter. The pilot left the vessel, and the captain paid no attention to the 
commands of Welsh. He went ashore to get a warrant from the justice at Chester ; he asked 
the sheriff to help him and received a promise, but no performance. He went back to the 
Isabella to try and manage the matter for himself, but the captain steered his vessel off down 
to the bay, put Welsh ashore at Cape May, and sailed away. Welsh complained to the gover- 
nor and Council, but they admitted themselves powerless. The delegates of Pennsylvania to the 
new Congress, meeting in convention, approved the act of the Isabella's captain, as they 
approved every act of open resistance to the burdensome imposts' of the Tory Parliament, and 



146 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



pledged themselves as favoring every other measure of resistance until the obnoxious laws 
should be repealed. 

Not all the colonial voices were, however, proponents of resistance. The Society of Friends, 
in solemn meeting, ordered an epistle to be sent to "their friends and brethren," to incite them 
to remembrance of the religious principles of Friends, "which teach us not to contend for any- 
thing at all, even for liberty." They deplored the fact that the excitement of the day had car- 
ried away some Friends, who had joined associations, made pledges and engaged in public 
affairs which led them in paths that Friends should not tread, and recommended that they 
should be "brought back and admonished, and dealt with in affection and brotherly love." 
But not all Friends sympathized with this attitude and some, of whom Samuel Wetherill was 
a conspicuous example, helped by quiet contributions to the cause, though not openly abandon- 
ing their principle of non-resistance and by that act rendering themselves liable alternately to 
be conscripted into the provincial or the royal armies. 




Washington s Camp Chest 



In the evening of April 24, 1775. an express rider brought a dispatch which had been 
relayed from place to place, bringing news dated Watertown, April 19th, announcing that Gen- 
eral Gage's men had marched out of Boston the night before, crossed to Cambridge, had fired 
on and killed the militia at Lexington, destroyed the store at Concord, and were now in retreat, 
hotly pursued. Many had been killed on both sides and the country was rising. Only a few 
heard the news that night, but the next morning it spread throughout the city. By the after- 
noon 8000 people had assembled at the State House, and although the gathering was spon- 
taneous the Committee of Correspondence took charge of it. A resolution was passed, with no 
dissent, by which it was resolved that the participants would "associate together to defend with 
arms their property, liberty and lives against all attempts to deprive them of it." Action fol- 
lowed. Two troops of light horse, two companies of riflemen, and two companies of artillery, 
with brass and iron field-pieces, were promptly formed, drilled daily, and turned out to parade 
on May 10, in honor of the Congress and John Hancock. By June 2000 men were under arms 
and were review by General Washington on June 20, and the cavalry troop escorted him 
next day when he set out for Boston, accompanying him across New Jersey. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



147 



By this time civil government in Pennsylvania and riiiladelphia was practically defunct. It 
was nominally under a royal government, which knew its impotence and dared not attempt to 
enforce its laws. The Governor and Council continued lo meet until December, but could do 
nothing except audit accounts, appoint civil ofticers and do other routine work. The municipal 
government was equally ineffective. Congress was in session, but interfered not at all in local 
affairs, except by consent. The Committee of Correspondence, which had been selected by 
acclamation, was the only body that carried any real authority, and even this was self-assumed. 
I'ut it was effective, as its demands were cheerfully obeyed. The committee was large and 
unwieldy, -and its organization was loose, so that it made blunders very frequently. But it was 
recognized as a representative body, that had the j)ublic interests at heart. 

Into this breach came Benjamin Franklin, who arrived in Philadelphia from England on 
the evening of May 5th. He received a welcome as sincere as it was uproarious. The Assembly 
elected him a delegate to the Continental Congress as its first business on the day following his 




Washington's Library and House Chairs 



arrival. He knew, from experience, the purblind obstinacy of the Tory government. He had 
a full appreciation of the measure of the peril to the province of the British power from with- 
out and the lords' proprietary within. He saw the impossibility of the government of the city 
and province continuing in its existing situation, so he set his practical mind to work and from 
it evolved the Committee of Safety. First he procured the act of the Assembly superseding the 
Committee of Correspondence and creating in its place a Committee of Safety with the largest 
executive powers. The committee was composed of John Dickinson, George Gray, Henry Wyn- 
koop, Anthony Wayne, Benjamin Bartholomew. George Ross. Michael Swope, John Montgom- 
ery, Edward Biddle, William Edmunds, Bernhard Dougherty, Samuel Hunter, William Thomp- 
son, Thomas Willing, Benjamin Franklin, Daniel Roberdeau, John Cadwalader, Andrew Allen, 
Owen Biddle, Francis Johnston, Richard Reilley. Samuel Morris, Jr., Robert Morris, Thomas 
Wharton, Jr., and Robert White. The Committee of Safety met July 3, and Benjamin Frank- 
lin was unanimously chosen president and William Govett, clerk. It organized on a plan of 
high efficiency; met daily at 6 o'clock in the morning of every week-day (in order not to con- 
flict with the meetings of the Continental Congress), and took entire charge of municipal and 



148 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

provincial affairs. First of all the Committee of Safety ratified and confirmed all that had been 
done by the Committee of Correspondence and thus made legal what at first had been an exer- 
cise of arbitrary though necessary power, self-assumed to meet an emergency. 

One of the first acts of the Committee of Safety was to issue bills of credit to the amount 
of £35,000, to be used to pay the drafts of the Committee of Safety. The next important duty 
was the purchase of arms and ammunition, the creation of defenses, the enlisting of manufac- 
turing establishments in public service, besides the management of the public business in city 
and ])rovince. The building of a fleet of gunljoats was also an important duty well executed 
])y this Committee of Safety. 

The committee dealt with cases of those who spoke or worked against the patriot cause, 
those whose offense was hostile speech being made to recant in public. Major Skene, who had 
come from England to take command of Ticonderoga and Crown Point and to raise a regi- 
ment of "Loyal Americans" to fight for the British Crown, came to Philadelphia and hoped to 
do some recruiting unnoticed by the Committee of Safety. But he was discovered, made pris- 
oner, and afterward exchanged. In fact the Committee of Safety was so et^cient and indus- 
trious that Congress commended this governmental product of Franklin's brain to all the colo- 
nies for imitation. _ ; 

The majority of the Quakers were loyalists and their Yearly Meeting, on January 20, 1776. 
issued its "Ancient Testimony," signed by John Pemberton, in which members of the Society 
were counselled to keep their allegiance to the king and unite firmly "against every design of 
independence." 

Work pushed upon the fortifications on the Delaware and in the equipment of a fleet at 
Philadelphia received a test on May 8, 1776. Two warships, the frigate Roebuck, 48. the Liver- 
pool, sloop-of-war, 28, and their tenders were engaged by the American gunboat flotilla, the 
Montgomerv, the Hornet, the Continental ship Reprisal and the battery Arnold. The engage- 
ment resulted in driving out the British ships, though not much damage was done because of 
the poor-quality of ammunition that had been supplied to the patriot vessels, but during the 
engagement the Wasp, Continental schooner, which had been chased into harbor at Wilmington, 
came out and captured an English brig belonging to the squadron. The American loss was one 
killed and one wounded, while the British lost one killed and five wounded. 

Following this the Committee of Safety organized a system of privateers and letters of 
marque, with the consent of Congress, and created a Court of Admiralty. The privateers were 
very successful in their forays on the British merchant marine, and brought back with them 
some valuable ships and cargoes caught in transit between Great Britain and the West Indies. 
An especially opportune prize was that brought in by the privateer Franklin, which had cap- 
tured a British storeship, having on board seventy-five tons of gunpowder and 1000 stand 
of arms. On the other hand the Roebuck and Liverpool, British warships, hovering about the 
Delaware Capes, made many captures of American vessels and chased others ashore. Two new 
battalions were added to the forces of the Associators, the Fourth, commanded by Colonel 
Thomas McKean, and the Fifth, headed by Colonel Timothy Matlack. 

News came of the arrival of the British General Clinton in New York, and a draft was 
made on the Associators for men under marching orders. The men were, for the most part, 
eager for active service, and four battalions were raised and organized from Pennsylvania for 
Continental service in January, 1776, and of these John Shee, of Philadelphia, Anthony Wayne, 
of Chester. Arthur St. Clair, of Westmoreland, and Robert Magaw were elected colonels; Lam- 
bert Cadwalader and William Allen (of Philadelphia). Francis Johnson and Joseph Penrose, 
lieutenant colonels. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



149 



Military events occiii)ied the attention of i'hiladelphia almost exclusively in the Spring of 
1776. and on May 27 the troops then in the city were reviewed on the commons hy Generals 
Washino^ton. Lee and Mifflin, aliout two thousand five hundred iniiladeljjhia troops— foot, 
light horse, and artillery — heing in line, besides two Continental battalions. In 1776 patriot 
opmion was in a state of uncertainty. Idiere was one mind as against the treatment which Great 
Britain had accorded to American rights, but the question of independence, and of overthrow- 
ing pro])rietary govermnent found varying sentiments. Some Whigs, while truly patriotic, still 
had hopes that reform might be accomplished and justice procured without severance of the 
ties which, had bound the colonists to the kingdom. 

But in January, 1776. Thomas Paine published his Ijook, "Common Sense." Because of his 
later attacks on religion the service which Paine ga\e to the cause of independence by this earlier 




The " F1.VING Machine " on its Way to New York in 1776 



book is not now appreciated. It was effective as a trumpet call and clinched pulilic sentiment in 
faAor of a complete separation from Britain and from all monarchy. Paine was in the emj)lov of 
Robert Bell, bookseller, in Third Street, Philadelphia, at the time he wrote "Common Sense." 
The book stirred patriot enthusiasm through the colonies, and accelerated the Congressional de- 
sire for independence. It did not start the agitation for independence. John .\dams had been 
outspoken for it in 1774, at which time, as he has attested, his radical views l)rought upon him 
distrust and aversion. "It soon became rumored," he writes, "that John Adams was for indepen- 
dence ; the Quakers and Proi)rietary gentlemen took the alarm, represented me as the worst of 
men; the true-blue-sons of Liberty pitied me: all put me under a kind of Coventry. I was 
avoided like a man afflicted with the leprosy. I walked the streets of Philadel])hia in solitude, 
borne down I)y the weight of care and unpopularity. fUit every ship for the ensuing year brought 
us fresh proof of the truth of my ])ro])hecies, and one after another l)ecame con\inced of the 
necessity of independence." 

But though Adams thus carl\-. and Patrick Ilenrv e\en earlier, talked of independence, the 
feeling or at least its expression, was in favor of keeping up the union with Great Britain, if 
that should prove to be possible. Eveil Jeiterson and ( leneral Charles Lee. committed to any 
extreme, even independence, unless the British Parliament should reliiK|uish its ]:)retended right 
to legislate for the colonies, were strongly in hope that the relief would come about without the 
severance of the tie that bound the colonies to the iuother country. 

Locall\- the (luestion of the I'roprietary (ioNcrnment and control of the Assembly was for 
the time of special interest, and there was an election in the city that was hotly contested for 
four members of the Assembly on April 19, 1776. The Whigs nominated George Clymer. 



150 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Frederick Kuhl, Owen Biddle and David Roberdeau, and the Tories and Moderates nominated 
Samuel Howell, x\ndrevv Allen, Alexander Wilcox and Thomas Willing. Howell, Allen and 
\\'ilcox were elected and George Clymer was the only one of the four on the Whig ticket who 
won, beating Thomas Willing by twelve votes. Christopher Marshall's diary characterized the 
result as a combination of "Quakers, pa])ists. Church, Allen family and all the proprietary party" 
that won the election. 




Library and Surgeon's Hall, Fifth Street, between Chestnut 
AND Walnut Streets 



This triumjih of the Proprietary party greatly intensified the feeling against proprietary gov- 
ernment. I'he Assembly refused to rescind or alter its instructions to delegates in Congress, 
made November 9, 1775, to oppose or reject any j^roposition for separation or any change in 
government. The popular party refused to accept the defeat in the election for members of 
Assembly as settling the form of government in Pennsylvania. The total vote was less than two 
thousand, so restrictive was the franchise under the Proprietary charter. The Committee of 
Inspection organized all the elements of opposition to the Proprietary form of government and 
started oft' by recommending to the "Justices of His Majesty King (ieorge the Third's Court of 
Quarter Sessions and Common Pleas" to exercise no more authority until a new government was 
formed. ' 

Congress took up the matter, and on May 10. 1776, adoj^jted a resolution "That it be 
recommended to the respective assemblies and convention of the United Colonies, where no 
government sufficient to the exigencies of their aft'airs has hitherto been established, to adopt 
such government as shall in the opinion of the majority of the people best conduce to the hap- 
piness and safety of their constituency in particular and of America in general." Following 
this action, the Tories and Moderates contended that the Assembly should take up the matter of 
such modifications as it should deem advisable, Init a mass meeting was called for May 20, at 
9 o'clock in the morning. Although it met in tlie rain, 4000 people gathered and listened to the 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 151 

speakers. Colonel Thonias !McKean made an esiK'ciall\' fer\cni pica for a convention, declar- 
ing that the Assenil)ly was to he trusted no longer. It was resolved to call a conference, to meet 
in Carpenter's Hall on June IS. That conference, presided oxer by Colonel McKean, resolved on 
a convention to meet on July 15, the election of delegates to be conducted hy the Associators. 
Following the conference was a dinner at the Indian Oueen. in Fourth Street, at which were 
patriotic toasts to Liberty in general, and General W'asliington, the Continental Congress, and 
"the free and independent States of America" in particular. 

In the Congress on June 7, Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, pursuant to instruction he 
had just received from his colony, oiYered a resolution, which John .\dams, of Massachusetts, 
seconded, as follows : 

"Resolved, That these united colonies are, and of right, ought to l)e free and independent 
states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and tliat all political 
connection between them and the State of Great P)ritain is. and ought to be, totally dissolved." 

Discussion on this and some other resolutions looking to foreign alliances was deferred 
until the next day, when it was found that many of the memljers who were favorable to the 
resolution feared to act because they were hampered by old instructions. It was, therefore, 
decided to postpone final action on the resolution for independence until July 1, a committee 
being appointed to prepare a declaration to be made by Congress in case it should decide favor- 
ably upon the resolution which had been introduced by Richard Henry Lee. This committee 
was composed of Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia ; John Adams, of Massachusetts ; Benjamin 
Franklin, of Pennsylvania; Roger Sherman, of Connecticut, and Robert R. Livingston, of New 
York. 

Meanwhile the colonies which had failed to give their delegates authority or which had 
actually restrained them, in specific terms, to agree to a separation, became actively in ferment 
over the question. In Philadelphia, where the Congress was in session, the discussion was espe- 
cially acute. The Proprietary government had the backing of the Quakers, or the great majority 
of them. Those who favored the declaration were almost solidly against the Proprietary govern- 
ment and the old charter. Charles Thomson was about the only exception. There were also 
Moderates, like Morris and Dickinson, who favored independence, but desired to i)Ostpone it. 
The Assembly, on June 14, after nuich hesitation, and much pressure from those who hoped to 
save it. rescinded its instructions to the delegates in Congress, made November 9, 1775, and in 
place adopted ne\v instructions, authorizing the delegates, in view^ of certain acts (specified in 
the instructions) of the king, ministry and parliament, "to concur with other delegates in Con- 
gress in forming such further compacts with the United Colonies, concluding such treaties with 
foreign kingdoms and states, and in adopting such other measures as, upon a view of all the 
circumstances, shall be judged necessary for promoting the lil)erty, safety, and interests of 
America." There were various other instructions but in them the word "independence" was 
carefully omitted, and the word "reconciliation" was emphasized. The Conference of Pennsyl- 
vania, meeting on June 24, adopted a declaration, with a strong preamble, which said: "We, the 
deputies of the people, assembled in full Provincial Conference, do, in this public manner, in 
behalf of ourselves, and with the approbation, authority and consent of our constituents, unani- 
mously declare our willingness to concur in a \-ote of the Congress declaring the United Colo- 
nies free and independent states." 

Pennsylvania was only one of the states which had been hesitating over the question of 
independence but which swung into line between the date of Richard Henry Lee's resolution 
and that of the adoption of independence. Meanwhile the committee had been busy in the prepa- 
ration of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson wrote the famous document. How well he 
did his work is shown by the fact that although his draft of the Declaration was submitted to 



152 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



his companions and carefully gone over by John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, only two or 
three small changes, and these merely verbal, were made by these two. It was ad.jpted by the 
full committee, without further change, on June 28. and re])orted to Congress the same day. read 

and laid on the table. 

On julv 1. the matter of Lee's resolution was taken up and Congress went into committee 
of the whole house to consider it. It was adopted on July 2. and the matter of the Declaration 
was taken up and discussed on that day and the next, and on Thursday. July 4, the Declaration 
of Independence was adopted. Independence itself had been adopted two days before, in the 
passage of Lee's resolution, but the date of the vote on Jefferson's great Declaration has been 
chosen as the day when the United Colonies became The United States of America. The 
Declaration was ordered to Ije published on the next day. July 5. It was printed on broadsides, 
and copies sent to the Assemblies of the various States. The superscription of the copies as 
printed was: "Signed bv order of Congress. John Hancock, president: Charles Thomson. 

Secretary." 

The' i)opular idea that the members, at the date of its adoption, signed the original docu- 
ment is entirely fiction. It is probable that not one of them signed it on that day, and it is 
sure that it was signed by some months after, the signatures including some that were not 
members of Congress until some considerable time after its adoption. 

As for the Pennsylvania delegation which had membership in Congress on July 2 and 4, 
1776. only five of the ten were ])resent. lulward Biddle was ill and soon afterward died. Rob- 
ert Morris and Thomas Willing believed a declaration would l^e premature. 14iey and James 
and lulward Willing were absent, as was Andrew Allen, who withdrew from the Congress and 
Ijecame an open advocate of the Crown. Of the five left, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton (who 
had l)een speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly) and James Wilson voted for the P)eclara- 
tion. while Dickinson and Humphreys voted against it. So that Inde])endencc on the formal 
vote of julv 4 carried Pennsylvania Ijy a bare majority of one. 







CHAPTER 



W E L V E 



PHILADELPHIA DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR; 

EROM THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

TO THE BRITISH EVACUATION 



'Pile cdiucniion called to adojit a Ccmstitulion fur I '(■niis\l\aiiia met. as jjlanned, on July 
13. 177^1. and organized. lla\in<;- been elected on July S. it considered itself the representatives 
of the people's will. While its ftniction was to adopt a Constitntion, it had in mind the sugo^es- 
tion of (,'on^ress that a new j^on crnment should he formed. First of all. after formal ors:^aniza- 
tion. with lienjaniin h^'ank- 
lin as President of the Con- 
\"ention, it chose a new set 
of delej^ates to represent 
I^enns\-l\ania in Congress. 
These delegates, chosen on 
July 20, were Benjamin 
Franklin, Rohert Morris, 
James Wilson. Dr. Benja- 
min Rush, George Clymer, 
( ieorge Ross. John ^Morton, 
James Smith, and (ieorge 
1 aylor. Rohert Morris was 
the only one of those who 
had ojjijosed the Declaration 
who was retitrned to Con- 
gress. A letter which he 
wrote to Joseph Reed ex- 
])ressed surjjrise that he had 
lieen so returned, as he had 
thought his ojjposition to 
Declaration woitld have 
caused his "dismission from 
the Great Council." In th.at 
same letter, however, he 
gave an opinion, as to the 
duty of one who had heen 

in a minority in such a crisis, which is well worth recall and adoption hy those similarlv situ- 
ated, to this day: "1 helieve it to he the duty of every individual to take his ])art in whatever 
station his coimtry may call him to in limes of c'ihculty. danger, and distress. I think that the 
indi\idual who declines the service of his country liecause its counsels are not conformahle to 
his ideas, makes a had suhject. A good one will follow if he cannot lead." All these newly 
selected memliers from Pennsylvania signed the Declaration, although only i^'ranklin. Morris, 
Wilson and Morton had heen present when it was adopted. ( )f the Pennsylvanians who were 
memhers when the Declaration was adopted July 4. Allen, liiddle. Dickinson. Mumphrevs and 
W illing never signed it. 



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Robert Morris, the First A:\ierican Fin.ancier, who 
fln.a,nchd the government for the revolution 



154 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



The Convention, on luly 2i, elected a Council of Safety to succeed the old Committee of 
Safety and to take over the executive functions of the State government. The members of this 
Committee were David Rittenhouse, chairman; Samuel Mifflin. Jonathan B. Smith, Timothy 
Matlack, Samuel Morris, Jr., Owen Biddle, James Cannon, Samuel Howell, Nathaniel Falconer, 
Frederick Kuhl, Thomas' Wharton. Jr., Henry Keppele. Jr., Joseph Blewer, George Gray, John 
Bull, Henry Wynkoop, Benjamin Bartholomew, John Hubley, Michael Swope, Daniel Hunter, 
William Lyon, Peter Rhoads, David Epsey, Joseph Witzell. and Samuel Moore. Jacob S. 
Howell was selected as secretary of the Council. 




INDEPENDKNCE HaI.I. 



The new Constitution provided for a one-chaml)er Legislature. The plan was Franklin's. 
Its liberality in religion excited great opposition, as it merely required of the legislators a profes- 
sion of religious belief, and thus made diests, Jews, Mohammedans and other enemies of Chris- 
tianity eligible to membership. The papers were full of communications denunciatory of this 
and other features of the Constitution. Some of the opponents of the Constitution met at Philo- 
sophical Hall and framed criticisms of the document, and a town meeting was called which met 
at the State House on October 2L at which Colonel John Bayard presided. The criticisms, 
formulated in a set of resolutions, were presented and favorably debated by Thomas McKean, 
John Dickinson and other speakers, while the Constitution was defended by Timothy Matlack, 



THE STORY OF rillLADIlLPHIA 155 



Tames Cannon. Dr. Young, and Colonel Smith, of York County. No action was reached on the 
resolutions at that meeting, hut they were adopted hy an adjourned meeting. The election was 
held on November 5th, and the anti-Constitutionahsts were elected by more than two to one. A 
set of "Instructions" was adopted at a meeting of those opposed to the Constitution, suggesting 
anien(huents which would have made an entirely new and different instrument. But those of the 
meml)ers elect who attended the Legislative sessions ignored these "Instructions" and the Con- 
stitution remained in force undisturbed. A considerable number of those elected to the Legis- 
lature, under the leadership of John Dickinson, refused to have anything to do with a system of 
government in which they had no faith, and declined to take their seats. 

Military topics held first place in the public interest at this time, for the i)eople were in con- 
stant expectation that Sir William Howe, who was in command of English troops m and 
around New York, would extend his operations in the direction of Philadeli)hia. As the winter 
approached the British outposts were seen in Burlington, Rivington and Mount Holly in New 
Tersey. Philadelphia had become an armed camp; the Barracks in the Northern Liberties were 
filled to their utmost capacity. The College, churches and numerous private dwellings were 
utilized for the quartering of troops. Sick and wounded soldiers of the Continental Army filled 
the Pennsylvania Hospital and a wing of the Bettering House, which had been secured for addi- 
tional hospital use. 

Howe had boasted, so rumor said, that he would eat his Christmas dinner in Philadelphia. 
Early in December the alarm grew greater. The schools closed, many shops suspended business. 
Many families loaded their household goods on wagons, and steady streams of people, horses, 
cattle and vehicles, poured out on the roads which led from the city into the country. By the 
middle of December the town seemed to be deserted, except for the Quaker population, which 
had very generally decided to remain. The State records had been removed to Lancaster, and 
Congress had adjourned on December 12 to meet in Baltimore on December 20. The affairs of 
the United States Government in Philadelphia were left in the hands of a Committee, of which 
Robert Morris was the efficient and vigorous head. 

Early in December, General Israel Putnam came to Philadelphia, and put the town under 
martial law. Except physicians and a few others who had passes from headquarters, no civilians 
were permitted to be on the streets after 10 o'clock at night. Civil government was set aside for 
about ten years from the time of Putnam's first proclamation of martial law, absolute powers bemg 
vested, under Putnam's rule, in a town-major appointed by him. Washington's victory in several 
lively actions in the neighborhood of Trenton inspired greatly increased confidence in the people's 
minds, which was further fortified when nearly a thousand Hessian prisoners were marched 
through the city on their way to the internment camp at Lancaster. Families returned, shoi)s 
reopened, and the fear of the British seemed to have passed by. 

But the winter brought disease with it. Small-pox and other camp diseases came in and vast 
numbers died ; more than two thousand soldiers, besides a large number of civilians. The feelmg 
of political confidence was, however, an encouraging factor. In February the supporters of the 
new State Constitution were able to give it effect. There was in it no provision for a Governor, 
the executive power being invested in a "Supreme Executive Council." It organized by the election 
of Thomas Wharton, Jr., as President, and George Bryan as Vice-President, and Mr. Wharton 
was inaugurated with a ceremony of considerable ])omp. The members of the Supreme Executive 
Council and other officers of the State Government, after the election had been completed, went 
mounted from the State House, to be greeted by an expectant gathering at the old Court House in 
Market Street, to whom the Clerk of the Assembly officially i)roclaimed "His Excellency, Thomas 
Wharton. Jr.. Esquire. President of the Supreme Executive Council of the State of Pennsylvania. 
Captain General and Commander-in-Chief in and over the same." 



156 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



There was much apyjlause for the new State Goveniment ; a niihtary salute was tired with 
thirteen pieces of cannon captured from the Hessians at Princeton, and at the City Tavern there 
was a gatherini^- in the evening, where toasts were drunk to the United States, the State, the Con- 
gress, General Washington, to fallen patriots, and to other patriotic sentiments. But the new 
Government found itself inadequately prepared to exert its authority, and its inahility was recog- 
nized hy Congress in a resolution adopted in April, 1777. The Pennsylvania Assembly, in 
the following |une. recognizing the weakness of the Constitution of the State from the Executive 
side, ordered a referendum on the policy of changing the Constitution, so as to create a more work- 
able system of government. Commissioners were appointed for each township, borough and ward 
in the State, to make a house-to-house canvass and secure the votes of all freemen. If it should 
be found that a majoritv favored amending the Constitution, a convention was to be called to 
revise it. But the increased activitv of the British forces prevented the vote from being taken 
at that time, and later attem})ts to revive the question failed to secure effective action. 

High prices and scarcity of many of the necessities, together with political conflicts between 
the extreme Constitutionalists, wdio called themselves Whigs, and the Conservatives, who were 
called Tories by their opponents, made troublous times in Philadelphia. The economic pressure 
was very great. Specie was scarce and the inflated Continental and State paper currencies were 
so intrinsically worthless that trade was at a standstill. The Pennsylvania law made these legal 
tender, and Whig insistence that every man who refused to take these currencies at par was a 
traitor, made the lot of the merchant anything but a happy one. All staple commodities went up in 
price, the greatest rise being in the price of salt, which had cost two shillings a bushel before the 
war, but had gone up to twenty-five shillings a bushel Ijy the end of 1776. The Regulators, a 
committee appointed to fix a schedule of rates at which commodities might be sold, found that 
some firms had considerable stocks and were holding prices at far above the maximum. Accord- 
ingly the committee in Philadelphia seized over four thousand bushels in the hands of the Shew- 
ells and three thousand bushels in the hands of Joshua Fisher & Sons, and distributed the stock 
at the puljliclv fixed i)rice and apportioned it among the ])eople of Philadelphia city and county 
and nearby sections of New Jersey. Many tradesmen, who declined to take Continental money, 
were published as enemies of their country. 

Recruiting for the Continental Army became difficult by the Association system, and in 1777 
the Pennsylvania Assembly passed a militia law. That statute contained a test oath or affirmation 
of loyaltv to the State of Pennsylvania and renunciation of George 111, and that the affiant would 
not do or cause to be done any matter or thing prejudicial or injurious to the freedom or independ- 
ence of the State as declared by Congress, and promised to inform some justice of the peace of the 
State "all treasons or traitorous conspiracies" which he might know or should thereafter know 
to be formed "against this or any of the United States (jf America." 

The situation for Tories and Quakers had already l)een made sufficienth- uncomfortable, but 
this oath (or affirmation) made their lot still harder, for quite a large proportion of the Friends 
were Loyalists. Indeed, one of the objects of imposing this test oath (or affirmation) was to 
"smoke out" those who were at heart favorable to the royal cause. "Traitor" hunting was a 
popular pastime. Houses of suspects were visited by associations and searched for lead, fire- 
arms, blankets and other things which could be turned to military use. The jails (and the Masonic 
lodges which had been hired for the purpose) were filled with persons who had been arrested for 
words and acts hostile to the Revolutionary cause. 

On July 4. 1777, the first anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, mobs surrounded 
houses which failed to illuminate in honor of the occasion and broke the windows of those whose 
owners refused to do so. Quakers who refused to bear arms were drummed through the streets. 



Tim STORY OP PHILADELPHIA 



157 



A list of about two hundred persons, alle.^ed to be disattected. was prepared with a \iew to their 
arrest and deportation. Some prominent I'hiladelphians. notaljly Joseph Galloway and some of the 
Aliens, availed themselves of the invitation of General Howe to seek protection Ijehind the 
British lines near Trenton. By order of Congress, for which the .State authorities acted, James, 
Israel and John Peniberton. John and Alx'l Janu^s. Henry Drinker, Joshua Fisher and his sons, 
Thomas and Samuel, Rees Wharton, Sr., and Samuel Pleasants were arrested and placed under 
guard. Many residences and places of business were ransacked and the papers of those sus- 
pected of hostility to the American cause were seized. ( )thers, who were to be apprehended, in- 
cluded Miers Fisher, a lawyer (son of Joshua), l^lijali llrown, llugh Roljcrts, George Roberts. 




V ^\ 



Carpenter's Haix— Pl.ace of Meeting ok the First CoNTiNENTAr, Congkkss 



Joseph Fox (late barrack-master), John I lunt (lawyer), Samuel Emlen. Jr.. Adam Kuhn. M. D.. 
Phineas Bond. Rev. William Smith. D. D. (Provost of the College), Rev. Thomas Coombe 
(Rector of Christ Church). Samuel Shoemaker, Charles Jervis. William Drewitt Smith, Charles 
Eddy, Thomas Pike (dancing master), Owen Jones, Jr., Jeremiah Warder^ William Lennox, 
Edward Penington, Caleb Emlen, William Smith (broker). Samuel Murdock, Alexander Sted- 
man, Charles Stedman, Jr., Thomas Ashton (merchant), William Imlay, Thomas Gilpin, Samuel 
Jackson, and Thomas Afflick. It was decided to give these men an opportunity to avoid the neces- 
sity of arrest if they would give their parole to stay in their homes, subject to the order of 
Council and obligate themselves to do nothing in any way injurious to "the United free States of 
North America." A few of these men took the oath and a few could not be found, but 
three-fourths of the men declined to give their parole and most of these were finally sent to 
Staunton, Virginia, where they remained until ordered by Congress to be released. April 18, 1778. 
Some of the more conspicuous of the royalists sought refuge within the British lines. William 
Allen, who had formerly been Chief Justice, went to England. His sons sought and obtained the 



158 



THE STORY OF riULADELPHIA 



protection of General Howe, except James Allen, who, under parole, was permitted to retire to his 
estate in Northampton County, with his uncle, James Hamilton, who had formerly been Provin- 
cial Governor of Pennsylvania. Governor John Penn, and Benjamin Chew, who had been Chief 
Justice, were permitted to retire to Union Iron Works in New Jersey; Edward Shippen, judge 
of the Admiralty, was permitted to stay in retirement at his home near the Falls of Schuylkill, 
under pledge to remain on the estate. Jared Ingersoll, commissary of the Court of Admiralty 
and Appeals, and whom, it had been arranged, was to have been sent with the other exiles to Vir- 
ginia, was permitted to go to Connecticut, whence he had come to Philadelphia some years before. 

The course of the war had been variant. After the early operations in Long Island and New 
York the British, with their Hessian associates, made their headquarters in New York until that 
city was evacuated by the enemy in November, 1783. Washington, after leaving New York, 
had marched his army through New Jersey towird Philadel])hia ; the enemy, under Cornwallis, 
successfully taking Newark, New Brunswick and Trenton, where they made camp, waiting for 
the Delaware river to freeze, so that they could cross on the ice and capture Philadelphia. Wash- 
ington, crossing the Delaware with boats, amid floating ice. surprised and captured a Hessian 
force at Trenton, and on January 3, 1777. fought the successful battle of Princeton, which revived 
the hopes of the patriots and gave them confidence in the ultimate success of their cause. 

Benjamin Franklin, with Silas Deane, was in Paris and Versailles endeavoring to secure 
from France the recognition of the new republic. They had created great enthusiasm among 
liberty-loving Europeans, some of whom offered their services to the cause. It was their work 
which Ijrought to the patriot army the invaluable service of Marquis de Lafayette. Baron 
Streuben, Baron de Kalb, Kosciuszko, Pulaski and other valuable foreign aid. Lafayette and 
other Continental soldiers of fortune came in the spring and early summer of 1777. He arrived in 
South Carolina in June, and with Baron de Kalb reached Philadelphia on July 27. Some of the 
foreic^ners were not very warmly welcomed, as there were numerous applicants for officers' 
commissions, but Lafayette was so strongly backed that he was commissioned a major-general 
on July 31, and at once became associated with General W^ashington, taking a high place in his 

esteem. 

Soon after laro-e British reinforcements went out of New York to join the forces which had 
already been gathered with the purpose of crushing Washington and the rebellion with one vic- 
torious blow. The British army moved in transports to the head of Chesapeake Bay. landing at 
Turkey Point and moving north to meet Washington, who had behind him a force of eleven 
thousand men. Howe, with seventeen thousandmen, found that Washington had massed his 
army in expectation that the British would attack him at Chadd's Ford, on the Brandy wine. He, 
therefore, arranged on September 11, 1777, that the right wing of his army, composed of the 
Hessians, under Knyphausen, should advance to Chadd's Ford as if to attack it. while the left, 
under Cornwallis, with Howe in person, and comprising the greater part of the army, made a 
detour of twelve miles, crossing the Bandywine without opposition at Trumball's and Jeffrey's 
Fords. W^ashington, who had taken Knyphausen's feint in earnest, prepared to attack that body 
in front, while other American troops deployed to cross under Armstrong above and under Sul- 
livan above. While these movements were developing the left wing of the British Army, 
descending the river on the crest of the North bank, struck Sullivan in the flank, doubling his 
divisions one upon another and driving the American forces before him until he had nearly gained 
the main road in the rear of Washington. At that point, however, the reserves under Wash- 
ing-ton and Greene checked the British onslaught long enough to prevent a rout and cover the 
withdrawal of the army. It was a bad defeat for the Americans, though their army was not 
demoralized to any important extent and the losses of men were few. The British, tired out 
by their long march, did not pursue, but they had captured Washington's ordnance and were in 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 159 

possession of the field. The army reorganized at Chester. 'I'lie ofticers and men wanted to 
attack Howe, hut Washington felt it would he l)e.st to retreat from Chester hy way of Darby, 
cross the Schuylkill, and make a stand at his old camp near the falls of Germantown. Boats were 
sent to bring up the injured, among whom was Lafayette, who had shown a brave front in the 
battle and had received a musket ball in the leg. 

The defeat caused a great stir in Philadelphia. The Whigs moved out of town, with mer- 
chandise, household goods, live stock and munitions. The news])a])ers Packet, Gazette and 
Bradford's Journal issued their farewell numbers. News came Sc'pteml)er 18 that the enemy 
was in full march for the city, and both Congress and the Assembly moved to Lancaster. Con- 
gress, however, after one meeting there on September 27, removed to Yorktown (York) and 
remained there until Philadelphia was evacuated in June, 1778. 

Washington moved about seeking a favorable camp and finally settled himself near the Perki- 
omen and Skippach creeks, first at Pennepacker's Mills and later at Worcester. General Wayne, 
with General Smallwood, was in the rear to harass the enemy and prevent his crossing the Schuyl- 
kill until Washington should get securely located. Wayne's men, encamped near the Paoli Tavern 
on September 20, 1777, were surprised by a force of two regiments of infantry and two of 
dragoons, under Grey, at one o'clock in the morning of September 21, and were defeated. Small- 
wood's men, who were about to join Wayne, retreated in haste. The American loss was large, 
reported by Wayne as 150 killed, and by General Howe as 300 killed and wounded, while eighty 
prisoners fell into British hands, including several officers. A great part of the arms and eight 
wagons, loaded with baggage and stores, were also captured l)y the British. The one-sided char- 
acter of the conflict and losses has given this episode the name of "The Paoli Massacre." A cen- 
tennial anniversary celebration was held on the spot September 20, 1877, at which was dedicated 
a monument in Quincy granite as a memorial ofthe Patriots who died there. 

Scouts sent out by General Washington to discover the whereabouts of the enemy were 
unable to secure any information along that line in the Quaker townships of Chester county west 
of the river, who were, so Washington was informed, ''disafifected to a man." The main body 
of the Patriot troops was at Parker's Ford onthe Schuylkill, and the crossing at Swede's Ford 
was defended, with breastworks, by the Pennsylvania militia. Howe, whose rear had been made 
safe by the coup at Paoli, marched to attempt these two fords, but found them thus guarded. From 
the position opposite Parker's Ford, Howe turned up the river northward, as if to pass Washing- 
ton's right, or to attack Reading, where the main storehouses of the Patriot armies were located. 
Washington, to head off these apparent purposes, recrossed the river to the eastern bank and stood 
at Pottsgrove, while Howe, by a sudden wheel, marched his forces back in two columns, one of 
which crossed at Fatland Ford, below Valley Forge, and the other at (jordon's Ford (now 
Phoenixville), both practically without opposition. Howe's grenadiers, which were the first 
British troops to cross the Schuylkill, on the 22nd September, were supported by guard of light 
infantry. The chasseur battalions crossed the same day at Gordon's Ford, and the next day the 
whole army went over. A battalion dislodged the Pennsylvania militia at Swede's Ford, and the 
road to Philadelphia lay open and unopposed to the British. Washington's troops were not in 
physical condition to march and countermarch against the British. His men were in rags and 
many of them barefoot, and the immediate prospect was very dark. He was, therefore, com- 
pelled to rest his men and reorganize his forces before taking up the offensive. 

On September 26, Cornwallis' division of British and auxiliaries marched into the city, three 
thousand strong, and encamped in the south end of the town, on Society Hill. The fine and 
smart appearance of the royal troops and their Hessian auxiliaries was very disheartening, as 
the Patriots mentally compared them to the ragged and barefooted men of the Patriot army. 
The rest of the army followed and the officers were billeted on the chief inhabitants of the city. 



160 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



With the soldiers came Joseph Galloway, Andrew and William Allen, and others who had been 
before driven otit of the city, for their Loyalist sentiments. Of the inhabitants of Philadelphia 
many, especially among the Quakers, adhered to the royalist cause and were tem])orarily highly 
elated. But the quiet and unobtrusive citizens were in large measure faithful to the Revolution. 
Washington was loath to give up Philadelphia so easily, and as soon as he felt ready to move 
his troops, on October 4, 1777. having received reinforcements from the Hudson, he marched 
to Germantown. where he encountered a royal army of British and Hessians, under Howe. Wash- 
ington opened the engagement at daybreak on October 4, and his center under Sullivan, and 
his left, under Greene, forced Imck the British and Hessians, and were close to victory. But 
the opportunity was lost when Stephen, on Greene's right, through a dense fog. mistook Wayne's 
forces for the enemy and opened hre, while a body of British who had taken cover in a large 
stone mansion, the residence of Judge Chew, in the rear, detained a part of the .\merican forces. 
Stephen's mistaken onslaught, combined with the hre from the Chew Mansion in the rear, threw 
the American troops into confusion, but Wa.shington led them from the held in perfect order. 
The British lost ?75 in this battle at Germantown. the Americans 673. Though W^ashington 
failed to accomplish victory in the battle, his audacity in attacking Howe so soon after the defeat 




ANNOUNCHMHNT Oh THE DECI.AR,\TI0N OF INDEPENDENCE 



on the Brandywine. gave encouragement to the army and the people, and coupled with Gates' and 
Arnold's success at Saratoga, leading to Burgoyne's surrender, had an important part in the suc- 
cess of Franklin and Deane in securing from the hitherto wavering French Court the decision 
to aid the Amercian cause. 

After the battle wounded soldiers from both armies began to arrive in the city, where the 
Americans were cared for at the State House, while the royal and auxiliary wounded were 
taken to the Pennsylvania Hospital and to the Bettering House. ( )ther wounded, of one side 
or the other, were cared for in the First, Second, and Pine Street Presbyterian churches, the 
Southwark Theatre, a sugar refinery, and several other buildings. The Americans were com- 
pelled to wait for surgical attention until the needs of the British wounded had been looked 



THE STORY OF PHILADRLPHIA 



161 



after, ilie Avounds wert', in many cases, frightfully jagged, the work of the swords, cutlasses and 
bayonets, which did most execution in the fighting of tiiat period. Antiseptics and anaesthetics 
were practically unknown, and an anii)utation, taking often as long as forty minutes, was an 
almost unbearable ordeal. 

Washington and his army, located at Pennepacker's Mills and later moving to the vicinity of 
White Marsh, exjiended every effort possil)le in the endeavor to sustain tlie garrisons in the forts 
on the Delaware, and the floating l)atteries, galleys and other armed craft, which for nearly two 
months ])revenled Lord Howe, who commanded the British fleet, from mo\ing up the bay to a 
junction with the royal army in the city. I^>\it after repeated assaults. Fort Miffiin was taken ])y 
the Brilisli on the night of November 15. and Fort Mercer was later so besieged by 2000 men, 
imder ("ornwallis, that it was decided to evacuate it on Noxember 20, leaving the enemy in posses- 
sion of all the water defenses on the Delaware. The chevaux-de-frise and other defensive 
works in the river were swept away by the British and their ()CCUj)anc\- of !'hila(le]])hia and it- 
port facilities was, for the time, complete. 




vSlGNING OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 



All the \\ hig newspapers sus|)enfle(l ])ul)lication except I'own's Fxening I'ost, which turned 
a jjolitical somersault (j\ernight. and liad a very eulogistic article commending the appearance, 
discipline and morale of the king's troops, the politeness of the oihcers. and the joy of the popu- 
lation at their coming. The IVnnsylvania Ledger, which had been discontinued for a consider- 
al)le lime before the liritish occupation, resumed ])ublication on ( )ctober 10. 1777. with James 
Humphreys as editor, and these two served the local held for a time. On ]\Iarch 3. 1778. the 
Royal Pennsylvania Gazette was established by a loyalist, who had been following Sir William 
Howe's army. All three journals were very frankK Tory, and very intolerant in all their com- 
ments upon the Aiuerican army and its Whig sup])orters. 



162 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Iluwe had a census made of the population of the city, which was taken shortly after his 
entrv, of which the return was as follows: 

Houses Dwellings Stores Stores Males Males 

WA.RDS Number) (Kmptvj (Empty) (Occupied )i Under 18) ( iS to6o) Females 

Mulberry 983 113" U 6 884 834 2293 

North .' 392 35 13 16 388 3eS8 949 

Middle 358 13 10 5 326 307 814 

South 150 10 7 2 132 135 352 

Dock ^75 141 27 28 1083 1104 3120 

Wahiut 105 5 4 1 94 83 241 

Chestnut 107 11 6 2 100 101 244 

High Street 178 15 3 3 136 166 419 

Lower Delaware 107 16 94 6 96 91 223 

Upper Delaware 225 24 24 48 172 150 422 

Northern Liberties 1151 135 3S ... 1254 1034 2727 

Southwark 764 72 6 ... 670 603 1599 



5395 590 240 116 5335 4996 13,403 

The great preponderance of women and children in this census is largely explained by the 
fact that most of the men of the normal city were ardent revolutionists and were either in the 
Patriot army or had gone about other work or business out of range of the British army. Not 
all those who remained in the city were Loyalists, but the majority were, and of the 5335 able- 
bodied who remained in the city more than one thousand were Quakers. 

Food was scarce and dear for the citizen population : Flour was £6 the hundredweight ; sugar, 
two shiUings and sixpence a pound; potatoes, 16 shillings per bushel; beef $1 a pound; chickens, 
10 shillings each, and other provisions in proportion, many of the articles wdiich were the ordi- 
nary necessities of an American family being entirely unol)tainable. Where Continental money 
was accepted at all it was at the rate of ifi4 as equivalent to an English shilling. By a special order 
of General Howe, on petition of citizens, the colonial currency of the old Province of Pennsyl- 
vania was allowed to be taken at the rate of two for one of specie. The signers of this petition 
were about six hundred men and firms, and this list is regarded as representative of the leading 
Philadelphia Loyalists of the period. Salt was the commodity hardest to procure, costing from 
£15 to £20 a bushel. 

There was a distressing shortage of food on the outside of the city, but not so great as that 
within the municipal limits. Raiding i)arties from the Revolutionary army scouted the roads and 
bypaths to intercept farmers and others who were carrying supplies to the Royalist camps. An 
especially dashing and ubiquitous cavalry company, commanded by Allen McLane, operated out- 
side the British lines all around the city. On the other side there was a green-coated body of 
British soldiers, composed of American Loyalists and commanded' by Lieutenant-Colonel J- G. 
Simcoe, who did effective work for the protection of the market people, making many sallies 
along the surrounding roads, and, at first, because the popular conception of the British soldier 
was wedded to the idea of a red coat, were able to take many American prisoners. 

The prisoners on either side had just cause for complaint, loud and deep, at the treatment 
they recei\-ed from their captors. Gentleness was not a trait of either army's prison discipline, nor 
was the prison fare in either camp either adequate in quantity or commendable in quality. But 
the British put over the prisoners William Cunningham, who had previously been provost 
marshal at New York, with a career of infamy there black with crime. He had been the execu- 
tioner of Nathan Hale, the torturer of Ethan Allen, had starved and maltreated many American 



THR STORY OF miLADELFHIA 163 

prisoners, and at Philadelphia, as at New York, (le\ised e\ery possihle means to heap pain and 
injustice upon captive patients, lashing them without cause and pilfering and selling the major 
part of the starvation allowance of the prisoners. I le was hanged for forgery in London on 
August 10. 1791, confessing, not only to cruelty of the most l;rutal kind and the sale of prisoners' 
rations while in charge of ])risons in America, but also to the secret execution of 275 American 
prisoners and "obnoxious persons." He was backed in his brutalities by Joshua Loring, commis- 
sioner of prisons, who proved to be a mean-spirited, cowardly and heartless creature. 

The British troops, who had their regular rations, were the only well-fed people in Philadel- 
phia, except the very well-to-do citizens. The ofhcers of the garrisons and staff and the elite of 
Tory society in Philadel]:)hia were the only people that extracted much gayety froiu the situation 
during the British occupation. 

In the latter part of November, 1777. several of the tinest country seats in the vicinity of 
Philadelphia were burned by order of Sir William Howe, under the pretext that they had been 
used as shelters by Americans, who fired on the British pickets. Skirmishes between Royal and 
Continental troops were not infrequent, for the most part connected with the foraging activities 
of Simcoe's rangers, or other mobile detachments who went out to drive in cattle and sheep or 
secure other supplies. For a long time the attention of the British and Hessians was mostly given 
to the completing of defenses. General Israel Putnam, while in charge of military affairs in 
Philadelphia, had laid out a complete system of redoubts and redans for defensive purposes and 




The Battle of Germaxtowx 

had the work well under way at the time the British gained possession of the city. The work was 
taken up by the British, who not only completed the work laid out in Putnam's ])lans, but largely 
extended it, so that this defensive system extended from the Schuylkill to the Delaware, and large 
bodies of troops were encamped on that side of the town. Some defenses were established 
beyond the Schuylkill to prevent surprises from tliat cpiarter, and bridges of boats had been con- 
structed across the Schuylkill. Extensive and elaborate as the preparations of the British had 
been, they had not organized any offensive plans. Both sides appear to have been dubious of 
their chances of success in a general engagement. Washington, in person, reconnoitered the 
British lines at various points near the city, desiring to make an assault, if possible, before going 



164 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



into winter quarters. But he concluded to wait reinforcements from the North, following the 
victory of Gates at Saratoga, but Gates, who seems to have thought that victory entitled him to 
be selected as commander-in-chief, did not send the expected aid. \\'ashington, therefore, con- 
tented himself with the strengthening of his defensive. 

Howe, like Washington, thought a strong attack on the enemy before winter fully set in 
would be a benefit, but did not bring his plans to any definite head until about the end of Novem- 
ber, 1777. He, therefore, planned a quick attack on the American main body, then encamped at 
White Marsh. There is an interesting legend in relation to this episode which tells how Lydia 




"Cr,[VEDEx," THE Chew House, Germantown 

Darragh (or Darrach), wife of William Darragh, warned the Americans of the intended foray. 
The Darraghs, who were Irish Quakers, had several British officers quartered in their house. 
Hearing an animated conversation in the chamber where the officers slept she put her ear to the 
door and overheard their discussion of the British plans for the attack upon Washington at 
Wliite Marsh. She went to bed, and feigned sleep when the ot^cers later knocked at her door. 
Early the next morning she secured from General Howe a pass to go to the mill at Frank ford 
for some flour. After she passed the British outposts she encountered an American cavalry offi- 
cer, to whom she told what she had heard, and who, the story goes, carried the news to Wash- 
ington. 

Like many another incident which claims historicity this one has been attacked as a mere 
legend. It is true that it is pretty well established that Washington received word of the intended 
onslaught from other sources, but that does not preclude the entire truthfulness of the pleasant 
legend of Lydia Darragh's patriotic enterprise, so that if there is any doubt about it, gallantry- 
dictates that we should give the lady the benefit of the doubt. 

It is, however, true that Howe, boasting that he would "drive Washington over the Blue 
Mountains," started out with 15,000 men on December 3. A skirmishing attack on the British 
advance by the Delaware Light Horse, under Captain Allen McLane, embarrassed and some- 
what delayed the march at Three Mile Run, on the Germantown Road, but on the morning of 



THE STORY OF rillLADELPHIA 155 



the 4th the army advanced to Chestnut Hill. After some skirniishin,^-, which revealed the enemy- 
drawn up in force three miles distant, and some combats between small forces on the picket- 
lines. General Howe concluded not to launch a s^eneral engagement and turned his army toward 
Philadelphia, committing dei)redations on the way which Morton's diary blames on the Hessians, 
saying they brought off 700 head of cattle, set fire to the Rising Sun Tavern, on the German- 
town Road, and committed other acts of pillage. 

A])out a week later \\ ashington broke camp at White Marsh to go into winter ([uarters at 
Valley Forge, About the same time Lord Cornwallis, on December 11. with 3000 men started on 
a foraging expedition toward the region north-west of the city. On his way he met resistance 
from small bodies of troops on their way to the winter cam]). M the crossing of the Schuylkill 
Sullivan's Division of the Continental Army, in the \an of the march to Valley Forge, and the 
Cornwallis troops found themselves face to face— a mutual surprise. Sullivan retreated after 
partially destroying the bridge at Watson's Ford and Cornwallis withdrew. His foragers 
returned with a vast amount of plunder from the upper country, most of it, it was claimed, taken 
from the farms of Tories and Quakers. Other small encounters occurred for a while, but soon 
the Continental Army was in camp for its vigorous winter at Valley Foro-e. 

The British, considering conditions, passed a gay time in Philadelphia, so gay that it was a 
scandal. Cockpit contests, open gambling at picquet, faro and dice, and other far more vicious 
amusements and practices, whiled away the time for a very large number of the officers. Others, 
more respectable, mostly belonging to fine English families, made themselves agreeable to the 
young ladies of the city's best Tory society. Weekly balls at the City Tavern and other places 
were a standing feature. Another, in which Major John Andre was a prime mover, was the 
reopening of the South Street Theatre, in January. 17/8. The major painted the scenery and 
at times took part in the performances, in which the actors w^ere army and navy officers and 
some actresses, probably amateur, though Miss Hyde, a professional, was one of the perform- 
ers. The i)rohts were devoted to a fund for the "widows and officers of the army." This relaxa- 
tion was very welcome to the military and Tory population of Philadelphia, and the theatrical 
season continued until the spring of 1778, the closing performance being on May 19. 

The climax of the gay life of the British occupation came with the "Meschianza" of Alay 
IS. The name is Italian, meaning "a medley." The affair seems to have been arranged as a fare- 
well to Sir William Howe, who had resigned and was returning to England. Many complaints 
had come from London about his inaction. It was thought there that he should have found no 
trouble about annihilating the debilitated and discouraged army of Washington. Howe, on his 
part, washed to return to England, and so sent his resignation. It was accepted and Sir Henry 
Clinton, sent to succeed him. arrived in Philadelphia on May S. assuming command almost 
immediately, and General Howe made arrangements to lea\e for England on May 24. Howe 
was personally very popular wMth his subordinate officers, and the "Meschianza" was the tribute 
to that popularity. It was a very gorgeous and brilliant affair, one of the most lavish in the 
exuberance of its pageantry in the history of this country. Beginning with a "grand regatta" 
on the river (as we glean from an account of it in the Gentleman's Magazine of August, 1778. 
written by the unfortunate Major Andre) in which there were "swarms of handsomely decorated 
boats." When the water procession reached the Market Street Wharf, it rested and all the people 
sang "God Save the King." The company landed at the Association Battery, which later 
became the United States Navy Yard, and through an avenue of grenadiers marched up the 
gentle slope to the broad lawn of Walnut Grove, the handsome Wharton mansion, around 
which 'the ceremonies centered. The principal feature was a tournament in which two groups 
of seven knights, respectively designated as "Knights of the Burning Mountain" and "Knights 
of the Blended Rose" (impersonated, of course, by officers of the Roval army), splendidly 



166 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



mounted and caparisoned, and each attended by his esquires, bearing his lance and shield, and each 
the champion of a particular lady, went out to ride in a tourney and fight upon the basis of a 
challeno-e by a herald in Ijlack (who was preceded by trumpeters) to the effect that "the Knights 
of the Burning Mountain present themselves here, not to contest by words, but to disprove by 
deeds, the vainglorious assertion (previously proclaimed ])y another herald) of the Knights of the 
Blended Rose, that the Ladies of the Blended Rose 'excelled in wit. beauty and every accomplish- 
ment those of the whole world," and entered the lists to maintain that the Ladies of the Burn- 
ino- Mountain are not excelled in beauty, virtue or accom])lishment ])y any in the universe." The 
chief of the White Knights thereupon threw down his gauntlet and the Chief of the Black 
Knio-hts directed his escjuire to take it up'. After all the formalities of salute had been attended 
to and the knights had received their lances and shields from their esquires the tourney 
be"-an. Lances were shivered in the first onslaught ; pistols emptied in the second and third. The 
fourth was fought with swords, and then the chief knight on each side, spurring forward into 
the center, eno-ao-ed in single combat with swords until the chief marshal of the field rushed in 
between them and declared that the fair damsels on both sides were fully satisfied with the 
l^roofs of love and signal feats of valor given them by their knights and commanded them, "if 
they prized the future favors of their mistresses, to desist from further contest." Then the 
knights returned each side to their group of ladies. 

Li front of the mansion two triumphal arches had been erected, while pavilions with rows 
of benches, rising one above the other, were placed as wings of these structures to hold the spec- 
tators. Under these arches, after the tournament, between files of troops who displayed the col- 
ors of the regiments, the company proceeded to the mansion, which had been decorated and 
equipi)ed in the most lavish manner and had been fitted up at vast expense, under the super- 
vision of Major Andre and his friend. Captain Oliver DeLancey, who was a brother of James 
DeLancey, who had been lieutenant-governor of New York, and commanded troops recruited 
from among the New York Loyalists. Many of the massive mirrors and other adornments of 
the mansion, silver, lights and ornaments were loaned by Tory families of the city, but the 
expense of the various preparations, the supper for 400 persons, the grand ball, and the build- 
ing of the great saloon in which the supper was served was necessarily very great. One of the 
notal)le features was presented by twenty-four slaves, in blue and white turbans and sashes, 
with silver collars and bracelets, who bent to the ground as General Howe and his brother, 
Admiral Lord Howe, entered the room. The elaborate description by Andre is filled with detail 
of the lavish grandeur of the occasion, and justifies his description of it as "the most splendid 
entertainment ever given by an army to their general." The display of fireworks, which was 
made at 10 o'clock, was one of unprecedented magnificence, and the festivities continued until the 
sun was "an hour high" next morning. 

Of course the Whigs severely criticised th? proceedings, and some of the older ofticers 
of the British army condemned it as wasteful tomfoolery and extravagance. The wickedness of 
it, in view of the want and distress which surrounded it on every hand, had a very unfavorable 
effect upon public sentiment in America. Some very pointed sarcasms were directed toward 
General Howe for permitting triumphal arches to be built and pompous procession inaugu- 
rated to celebrate — not victories, but "the loss of thirteen provinces and a three years' series 
of ruinous disgraces and defeats," as a London pamphleteer described it. 

While the ball was in progress guns from redoubts in the north of the city, artillery in 
Southwark and ships in the river were heard to boom. The alarm of the young ladies at these 
salvos was quieted by the explanation that the guns were being fired in honor of the "Mes- 
chianza." The fact was, however, that Captain McLane, of Maryland, a vigilant ofificer of the 
Continentals, with a hundred infantry and Clow's dragoons had made an attack on the abatis 



THE STORY OF FlULADELPIIIA 



.67 




168 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

connecting the redouts there, just to annoy and frighten the British, and^ having accomplished 
this, beat a rapid retreat from the scene. He and his httle band were, in fact, a skirmishing 
party from a larger body of the American force, for Lafayette, on the day of the "Meschianza," 
had moved with 2200 men, crossed the Schuylkill at Swede's Ford, near Norristown, and 
marched to Barren Hill. British spies had learned of this movement in advance and had car- 
ried the news to Generals Howe and Clinton, who laid plans which they felt sure could not 
go wrong to trap the distinguished Frenchman — so sure that they invited a company of ladies 
and gentlemen to an entertainment the next day "to meet the Marquis de Lafayette." But the 
young ally of Washington, by an alert and well-considered movement, made a crossing at Wat- 
son's Ford, at Conshohocken, and made a junction with Washington. 

Lafayette's movement was one of the first inspired by the news from France, which reached 
Valley Forge in May, 1778, that French ships, French money and French soldiers would be 
sent to aid the Americans to their independence. Franklin's work had reaped this great benefit 
to the American cause. He had gone to France soon after the signing of the Declaration of 
Independence. He brought a great European prestige which secured him ready access to the ears 
of the king and the ministers of State. Count de Vergennes, the minister for foreign affairs, 
was not easy to convince, but after the battle of Ciermantown and the capture of Burgoyne, at 
Saratoga, the court was ready to listen, and, as France was at war with England, it was, 
therefore, determined to make common cause with the Americans. 

Premonitions of this course had come to the British commanders at Philadelphia. Numer- 
ous emissaries had been sent to Washington, at Valley Forge, to persuade him to make peace, 
on various pretexts, all of which were, of course, utterly futile. As the certainty of French 
intervention came nearer, it was decided by the Commanding General, Clinton, to offer an 
exchange of prisoners, and then to retire from the city. The exchange of prisoners was made. 
The British army gradually withdrew, some going on transports to New York, wdiere it was 
feared a French fleet might appear any day, and the rest across the river with their baggage, 
their camp followers, male and female, and a host of Tories to the number of about three thousand. 
The troops who left numbered about seventeen thousand. The rear guard crossed the river at 
10 o'clock on the morning of June 18, 1778. ^ 

Captain Allen McLane and his riders harried the retreating British, making some important 
captures of prisoners. Continental troops made the march of the British through New Jersey 
a very hard one. At Monmouth they forced on Clinton a losing engagement from which he was 
glad to extricate himself as soon as he could cover his retreat. The march to New York was 
made all the more toilsome because of the need to ])rotect so many Tory refugees who had to be 
taken along. 

Most of the Continental Army was kept out of the city to organize for eft'ective battle 
against the enemy. A sufficient force was sent there to supervise the work of restoration, and 
the local military command was placed in the hands of an officer who had won much distinction 
in the work of the patriot army in the North — General Benedict Arnold. 

Philadelphia, cradle of American Liberty, was thus restored to American hands, to become 
and remain to this day the most typically American city. 



C H A P T E R 



T H I R TEEN 



FROM THE BRITISH EVACUATION TO THE CELEBRA- 
TION OF PEACE 

According to jaincs Allen, tlu' lirilish, on leaxing I 'hiladcli^hia, had gi\en np the royal cause 
as locally lost, and Sir William llowe and his brother, Lord Jlowe, advised the citizens of the 
city to make the best terms they could. Such of the Tories as remained saw the royal troops 
go with dire forebodings, and their fears were not without cause. Before Howe, with his troops, 
had come the Whigs had dealt with the Tories very harshly, but while the British were in occu- 
pation the W^higs were treated with great bari)arity and jjitiless intolerance. 

Now that the British and their Hessian allies had departed with many of the leading Tories, 




Bank of Pennsvlnania 
The first Bank in the United States, opened 1780 

those who were, or were supposed to be, disloyal to the independence idea met with severe 
treatment. The court, with Chief Justice Thomas McKean presiding, was busy for weeks with 
trials for treason. The Assembly, meeting at Lancaster, had already passed bills of attainder 
against Joseph Galloway. Andrew, John and William Allen. Samuel Shoemaker. Rev. Jacob 
Duche, and others, whose property was confiscated. 

Rev. Dr. Duche was regarded as the worst renegade in the list. He was born in Philadel- 
phia in January, 1738 (N.S.), the son of Jacob Duche, mayor of Philadelphia, and Mary Spence. 
^^'hen the doors of the college (now imiversity) were opened on May 25, 1754, he was entered 
as a matriculate, and was one of the six graduates of the first class (1757) to be graduated 
from that institution, the others being Francis Hopkinson (signer of the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, from New Jersey), Rev. James Latta, D. D.. Rev. Samuel Magaw. D. D.. John Morgan, 
M. D., and Hugh Williamson. M. D. Benjamin West, the famous painter, was a non-graduate 



7Q THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



member of the same class, lacub Duche was of Huguenot stock, and his father, the mayor, was 
a pubhc-spirited citizen, and a man of considerable wealth. After being graduated from the 
college in Philadelphia he went to Clare Hall, Camljridge University, was ordained in the Church 
of England in 1759. returned to Philadelphia in 1759. becoming professor of oratory in the col- 
lege f759-1778. and was assistant minister of Christ Church. 1759-1775, and rector of Christ 
Church and St.' Peters, \77h-\777. He was a preacher of much al)ility. and when the Continental 
Congress met on September 4. 1774, he was selected as chaplain of Congress, appearing in that 
body on the next day and gaining great favor with the revolutionists by an extempore prayer 
which was widely published and highly praised. He preached war sermons; omitted the i)rayer 
for "the King's Most Excellent Majesty" from the church services, and was a pattern of patriot- 
ism until the^British came, when he hastily returned the prayer for King George to its wonted 
place in the prayer book, was imprisoued one night and woke up an ardent Loyalist. He wrote 
a letter to Washington, urging him to desert the patriot cause, a letter so mean in spirit that 
Washington declared if he had supposed it to be anything like it was, he would have returned it 
unopene'cl. As it was. Francis Hopkinson, whose sister Dr. Duchc had married, wrote^a^ suffi- 
ciently scathing reply to his brother-in-law. Duche went to England in December, 1777. and 
became chaplain to an orphan asylum in St. George's Fields. London. He wrote a letter to Wash- 
ington, begging forgiveness and asking that he might not be prevented from returning to Phila- 
detphia. When he came back, in 1792, Washington permitted Duche to call upon him. He died 
January 3, 1798. in Philadelphia. He had once been one of the most popular men in the city, 
but he never regained popularity, and there were few to regret his loss when he died. 

There were others whose treason to the cause of independence was much more formidable 
than that of Dr. Duche. foremost of whom was the man who \\'ashington had left in charge of 
the military government of the city. But Benedict Arnold was trusted and highly esteemed by 
Washington, had done valiant work in the patriot army and had been wounded in the service. But 
he was "not popular. He was haughty and undemocratic in demeanor. He was on terms of 
intimacy in numerous Tory families, and had married into one of them, his wife being a daughter 
of Edward Shippen. His ways were aristocratic, and did not please the ardent advocates of lib- 
erty and equality who constituted tJie most vocal element of Philadelphia society at this period, 
and who accused Arnold of maladministration and of lack of sympathy for democratic ideas and 
ideals. Arnold realized his unpopularity, and it had much to do with the trend of things that led 
him to betray the patriot cause. 

The rigors of the Tory hunt continued for several weeks after the British retired. Lists of 
traitors were added day by day to the Whig proclamation. Some were mobbed. The Quakers, 
most of them, were (not unjustly) suspected of royalist leanings. But most of them were also 
wise enough to keep their opinions to themselves. As for fighting, they were "conscientious object- 
ors." They stayed in the city when the British came, and remained in Philadelphia when the 
redcoats went, and, remaining, so conducted themselves that those of them who had not brought 
upon them the taint of treason during the British occupation, managed to escape all the dire pen- 
alties, except such as were administered by the all too numerous mobs. 

The return of the Whigs was celebrated by an elaborate entertainment at the City Tavern, 
to which none of the Tory belles of the "Meschianza" were invited. The Whigs, who had been 
loud in their denunciation of the prolifigate conduct of the British and Tories while the city was 
under their domination, were by no means exponents of democratic simplicity when it came their 
turn to rule the roost. Public feasting and drinking, and extravagance of many kinds became 
painfully apparent and greatly disheartened the thoughtful patriots who realized the task before 
them to gain and organize American liberty. 

Congress and the State Government returned to Philadelphia in the Summer of 1778. The 
Fourth of July was celebrated with much elation and the drinking of toasts, each followed by a 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 171 

volley of field pieces. On Sunda)-, July 12, 177S, the Sieur (icrard. first of the T""rench ministers 
to the United States, arrived in the Languedoc, a war vessel of D'Estaing's fleet, disembarking 
at Chester, where he was met by a committee of Congress, headed by John Hancock. Escorted 
by soldiers he came to Philadelphia, was saluted by artillery and jjrovided with free apartments 
on Market Street. On Thursday, August 6, thi minister was publicly received by Congress and 
presented a letter from Louis, countersigned by \'ergennes, addressed to his "very dear, great 
friend and allies"; made a speech to the Congi:iss, and was responded to l)y tlic president of 
Congress. Henry Laurens. The Ijirthday of the king of France was celebrated with much 
enthusiasm on Sunday, August 23, and lavish expenditure was made for music and fireworks, 
and the president of Congress and members, as well as the various public oflicers and leading citi- 
zens called upon M. Gerard in honor of the occasion. On August 25 the minister gave a dinner 
to Congress at the City Tavern. Another festive occasion was connected with the induction into 
office, in December, 1778, of Joseph Reed and George Bryan as president and vice-president of 
the State of Pennsylvania. The bibulous capacity of the Philadelphians of that period is evi- 
denced by the bill presented to the Assembly for the entertainment, in which it was shown that 
the 270 guests on that occasion drank 522 bottles of Madeira wine, 116 large l)owls of punch, 9 
large bowls of toddy, 6 large bowls of sangaree and 24 bottles of port. In addition two tul)s of 
grog were consumed by the artillerists who fired the salutes. 

"Lady" Washington, as the great general's wife was generally designated, weni lo I'liila- 
delphia in December. 1778, to meet her husband, who did not arrive for several days later. A 
ball was given in her honor at the City Tavern, M. Gerard being among the attendants. Gen- 
eral Washington arrived December 22 and remained until February 2. 1779, this being the first 
relief from service he had enjoyed since entering it. He was much displeased with the ])revailing 
feating and extravagance. His army was in poverty and want, his officers reduced to extremities, 
and yet. in Philadelphia lavish entertainments were nightly given, costing from £300 to £400 for 
a dinner, supper, or concert. He wrote to Benjamin Harrison, of Virginia, complaining almost 
despairingly, and thus describing conditions : 

"H I was to be called upon to draw a picture of the times and of men, from what I 
have seen, heard, and in part know, I should in one word say that idleness, dissipation 
and extravagance seem to have laid fast hold of most of them. That speculation, pecu- 
lation, and an insatiable thirst for riches seems to have got the better of every other con- 
sideration, and almost of every order of men." 

General Nathaniel Greene, who was in the city a few weeks later, deplored the spirit of dis- 
sipation which he found prevalent, "the offspring." he said, "of sudden riches." He spoke of din- 
ing at one table where there were 160 dishes, and at others almost equally extravagant. One of 
the causes of this extravagance was the inflation of the currency. Continental currency abounded 
in volume. The British, when in Philadelphia, had at the request of local merchants recognized 
the State currency as money at the ratio of two to one, and had enlarged the volume of both 
State and Continental currency by counterfeiting it in large quantities. It had gone far beyond 
the hope of ultimate redemption, and yet the vast majority of the Whigs, even including W^ash- 
ington, wished to brand all who would not receive it as good money as foes of the patriot cause. 
It has always been the case that undue inflation has meant depreciation, and this was especially 
true of the Continental currency. 

Flour and salt continued to be scarce and dear, even when expressed in terms of specie, 
although on that basis less dear than during the British occupation. But a strong party, of which 
Thomas Paine was the most vocal leader, insisted that the merchants should be compelled to take 
Continental money dollar for dollar. Thomas Paine was not a financier. His living came chiefly 
from the bounty of men whom he afterward savagely attacked. He had done splendid service by 



172 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



his tract "Common Sense," but was overdosed with the strange obsession, often recurring to 
plague humanity, that the road to unhmited wealth is to work the printing press overtime on the 
manufacture of money. Paine had good company among those who insisted that the paper money 
should be treated as if it was as good as gold. Timothy Matlack, the "Fighting Quaker" ; Charles 
William Peale, the artist ; David Rittenhouse, the astronomer, and others of high personal stand- 
ing were joined with Paine as a committee from a town-meeting to visit Morris, Blair, McClena- 
chan and other merchants and protest against the price they had placed on large consignments of 
flour which had come to them. This committee not being able to induce Morris and the others to 
accept the price fixed by the town meeting, another meeting, presided over by General Rober- 
deau, was held, which developed into a riotous altercation. 

General lohn Cadwalader, endeavoring to speak in defense of Morris, was set upon by a 
group of men armed with sticks and staves. Slapping staves together to drown the voice of speak- 
ers, and shouting them down, the friends of the more conservative policy, amounting, Silas Deane 
records, to "nearly three-fourths of those present, adjourned to the college yard, on Fourth 
Street, and there held a meeting of their own, over which Robert Morris himself presided. The 




Shippen's Housp:, where .-Arnold w.^s Married 



main complaint at the other meeting wms that Morris had sold flour to M. Holker, French 
consul-general, for the use of the French fleet, at prices higher than those established by the 
regulations, and shipping them down the river to the fleet without a permit. This flour had 
been seized. At the college yard meeting M. Molker and Robert Morris were endorsed, and 
Andrew Caldwell, James Wilson, Sharpe Delaney, Whitehead Humphreys, Benjamin Rush, 
Major David Lenox and Major Benjamin Eyre were appointed a committee to give efl:ect to the 
action of the meeting. The result was that the Supreme Executive Council investigated the mat- 
ter and decided that the transaction had been legitimate and proper, and that the flour that had 
been seized should be given up to M. Holker. By agreement an election was held for selection 
of a new committee for the regulation of the prices of commodities, and one headed by Blair 
McClenachan was selected by a vote of 2115 to 284. 

The mob-spirit still animated a considerable section of the population. Its main inspiration 
was the depreciation of Continental currency. Congress pursued a course which greatly increased 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 173 

the i)acc of depreciation. Many of the foremost members of that body were so occupied with 
the affairs of their own States that they were unal^le to attend the sessions of Congress. In the 
early part of 1779 the attendance was seldom more than thirty, and often less than twenty-five. 

Ih September, 1777, the Continental money circulated at par, but in January, 1778, the 
value had depreciated to $685 in specie for $1000 in i)aper. DitHng 1778 it fell rapidly, so that in 
December of that year $157 in specie would buy $1000 in paper. One hundred millions of Con- 
tinental money was then in circulation, but in January, 1779, Congress decided to issue $50,000,- 
000 more, adding in February $10,000,000 more in currency and $20,000,000 additional in loan 
certificates, in April $5,000,000 of bills of credit, and in May and June $20,000,000 more. 
Immediately following passage of the bill for $50,000,000 increase in January, 1779, the exchange 
fell to $134 to the $1000, and by December the $1000 in paper wound only fetch $38 in specie. 
In March, 1780, the ratio became 40 to 1 ; a year later to 250 to 1, and in May, 1781, when it 
had fallen to 1500 to 1, the Continental money was withdrawn from use. 

While Congress was adding to the volume of the Continental currency, the agitators in 
I^hiladelphia were complaining about depreciation, searching for British sympathizers, and 
denouncing as enemies to the country conservative men who were, many of them, men of the high- 
est value to the patriot cause. Robert Morris, Dr. Benjamin Rush, James Wilson, General John 
Cadvvalader and a few more who seemed to be the only ones on the patriot side who had any 
clear idea of the laws of commerce and currency were made the target of attack almost as virulent 
as that visited on the Tories. Thomas Paine, active in newspaper attacks upon Robert Morris 
in particular, was lauded as the greatest of patriots. Next to Morris, the agitators were espe- 
cially venomous against James Wilson, a lawyer of great learning and probity, who, in addition 
to his conservative views on the currency question, had made himself unpopular by defending 
several Tories on their trials for treason. An agitation had been started against him, and plac- 
ards were posted about the city threatening Wilson, Morris and other conservative men who were 
alleged to be inimical to the Constitution of Pennsylvania and the Committee of Trade. A 
{)arty of Constitutionalists, mostly militiamen, who had been drinking freely at the taverns deter- 
mined to make an attack on Wilson's house, at Third and Walnut Streets. At Wilson's house, 
on October 4, 1779, besides the owner, were gathered his friends, Robert Morris, Sharpe Delaney, 
George and Daniel Clymer, Samuel C. Morris, Dr. Jonathan Potts, Captain Robert Campbell, 
General Thomas Alifflin, General Thompson, Major Francis Nichols and others. They had guns, 
but little ammunition, and that little only because Major Nichols and Daniel Clymer had liurriedly 
filled their pockets from the Arsenal at Carpenter's Hall on their way to the Wilson house. It is 
likely that no trouble would have occurred but for the indiscretion of Captain Robert Camp- 
hell. The militiamen, who were followed by a crowd of boys, had two pieces of camion, and 
formed a procession of more than two hundred. The procession came along and Captain Camp- 
hell, leaning out of a window, spoke to some in the crowd, advising that the procession pass on. 
Unfortunately he emphasized his remarks by flourishing a pistol and was shot at from the street 
and mortally wounded. A volley was then fired from the house. The mob gave way, but when 
some of the militiamen marched around on Third Street General Mifflin, opening a second-story 
window, endeavored to address them. He was fired at, the ball striking the window-sash, and then 
he discharged both of his pistols at the mob. An attack was then made upon the house, the door 
was smashed in with a sledge-hammer, but further progress in the house was prevented by a 
barricade of furniture hastily piled up. 

General Joseph Reed, president of Pennsylvania, followed by the Light Horse Troop, in 
command of Major Lenox, then rode up and dispersed the mob in all directions. In the house 
Captain Campbell had been killed and Colonel Stephen Chambers, of Lancaster, General Mifflin 
and Samuel C. Morris wounded. In the street a man and a boy w^ere killed, while many of the 



174 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



rioters were wounded by the sabres of the cavahy. The bad feeHng which followed this con- 
flict, historically known as the "Fort Wilson" riot, did not die out for some time, though the pru- 
dent and conciliatory course of President Reed and the endeavors of the authorities to settle the 
factional differences were continued. Twenty- seven prisoners of the mob were let out on bail, 
and each party tried to secure the arrest and conviction of the others as the aggressors. But 
finally, on March 13, 1780, an Act of Assembly was passed granting amnesty and pardon to all 
the persons implicated in the affair. 




First Steamboat in the World 

Numerous vessels were fitted out in Philadelphia as ])rivateers or were given letters of marque 
in 1779, and they were quite successful in capturing vessels flying the British flag, and many were 
brought into the port. Slavery had existed in Pennsylvania from its original settlement by the 
British. The German settlers had early protested against the principle of slavery, and after a 
time a considerable sentiment against the institution had been Inult up, particularly among the 
Quakers. But in the provincial days, and under the proprietary government, though for most of 
the time the Quakers had the majority they never took up the fight against slavery with sufficient 
aggressiveness to destroy it. An attempt was made to abolish slavery in the Assembly of 1779, 
but was shelved in the House by a vote of 29 to 21, but in the new Assembly, elected soon after, 
George Bryan introduced a draft of a law for gradual emancipation which was, on February 29, 
1780, adopted by a vote of 34 to 21. Mr. Bryan, who had been the most uniformly active op- 
ponent of human slavery in the State, is entitled to full recognition of leadership in bringing 
about emancipation. 



THE STORY OF PIIILADETPHIA 175 



In February, 1779, the Assembly passed an act directing that "all trustees, provosts, rectors, 
professors, masters and tutors of any college or academy, and all schoolmasters and ushers should 
be prohibited from acting in these capacities unless they took the oath of allegiance." This was 
directed against the faculty of the College of Philadelphia, who were more than suspected of 
Tory leanings. This law, not having the effect expected, a law was enacted on November 27, 
1779, abrogating the proprietary charters of the college, removing from office the provost. Rev. 
William Smith, the faculty, trustees and all officers of the institution, and transferring the rights 
and property vested in the trustees into other hands. It was reorganized as The University of 
the State of Pennsylvania, and the Assembly endowed the institution with an annual income of 
£1500 to be derived from confiscated lands. A new Board of Trustees was established and its 
members appointed by the Assembly. 

The same session of the Assembly took up the matter of the proprietary rights of the Penn 
family and decided to extinguish the Penn title so far as it inhered in the sovereignty to which 
the State of Pennsylvania had succeeded. As a compensation it was decided to pay to the Penn 
family il30,000 five years after the passage of the act. The Penns also retained their manors and 
other real estate, and ground rents and quit rents derived from their manors and were still the 
largest land owners in Pennsylvania. 

The question of finances of the Patriot government, and the instability of the Continental 
currency were questions of deepest concern. The extremity of the American government and 
forces from the financial side was well known and greatly rejoiced over in London. The King 
of England expressed himself as certain to subdue his rebellious subjects in America, now that 
they had no money. The army was in a bad way. As the paper currency had totally collapsed, 
taxes for the support of the army had to be collected in the form of supplies — cattle on the hoof, 
salt beef, woolen cloth, flour, wheat, knit socks, anything and everything, in fact, the army 
could use. But the one great need of the country was a financier, a genius who could take the 
country in its bankrupt condition and put it in the way of securing the pecuniary resources 
necessary for it to win the war and organize itself as a free union of states on a basis that would 
give it the prestige of being a going concern. 

Strange to say that Congress, which had long been giving cumulative evidence of its abso- 
lute incapacity for a single practical thing in regard to ways and means of running the govern- 
ment on a substantial basis, did exactly the right thing at the critical time. The financial affairs 
of the country, administered by a treasury board, which had never exhibited any vitality or 
aptitude for its job, were taken away from the l^oard and turned over to Robert Morris as a 
single head to be called superintendent of finance. 

Morris had been a representative in Congress, but at that time was a member of the Penn- 
sylvania Assembly, and, with the aid of General Mifflin was working hard for the repeal of the 
old tender and penal laws. He was still battling against strong opposition to secure for the 
people of the state full relief from the paper-money burden, when news came to him that Con- 
gress wished him to undertake the financial direction of the country. Washington, Hamilton 
and many other men of influence urged acceptance of the duty upon him at the time of the 
offer, in February, 1781, but he postponed decision and finally agreed to take the post as soon 
as he had completed important undertakings in the Assembly. He took the oath of office June 
27, 1781, and established in Philadelphia the Oliice of Finance, first located on Front Street, 
but afterwards removed to Fifth and Market Streets. 

Morris put on foot various measures designed to give efficiency and stability to the coun- 
try's financial situation, although he felt that the loose form of the Confederation was an 
obstacle to national efficiency. Congress had, in 1777, adopted the Articles of Confederation, 
but they were not to be effective until all the colonies had approved them. They were adopted 



176 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

with reluctance by most of the states and the last of them, Maryland, did not ratify the articles 
until March 1, 1781. The Confederation fell far short of being a Nation, for the powers dele- 
gated to it by the articles were hemmed about with crippling limitations. Morris soon saw that 
the thing needed to be done was to work for a more perfect union, and a centralization of much 
more power in the Federal Government. 

The choice of Robert Morris for the post of Superintendent of Finance was based on the 
fact that he had established and put in running order a bank of substantial quality. In 1780 
he had induced several solid business men of Philadelphia to join him in establishing the Bank 
of Pennsylvania, organized, in the first place with the patriotic idea of supplying the army wdth 
provisions. The bank had a capital of £300,000 Pennsylvania currency, the largest subscribers to 
the capital being Robert Morris and Blair McClenachan with £10,000 each, several others sub- 
scribing £5000 and others smaller amounts, there being ninety-two subscribers in all — individ- 
uals and firms. 

When Morris entered upon his duties as Superintendent of Finance he bent his entire 
energies to the task of sustaining Washington's army. The powers of the United States to 
raise funds, under the Articles of Confederation were miserably inadequate. Congress could not 
levy or collect taxes, except through the states and Morris found that the states were very 
dilatory and indifferent about laying and collecting taxes for the Federal Government's use. 
Some raised none at all and others only a small amount, and during his term of office, which 
expired in 1784, so small an amount had been raised and transmitted by the states that the in- 
adequacy of that plan was amply demonstrated. 

At the very beginning of this term the task of supplying the means for bringing Wash- 
ington's army from the Hudson and the forces of the French Allies who had for a considerable 
period been inactive in New England to a united movement against Cornwallis at Yorktown con- 
fronted him. The operation could not have been managed at all if Morris had not used his own 
credit in securing a loan from the Count de Rochambeau to outfit the expedition. Washington's 
troops, ill-fed, ragged and largely mutinous, amazed the Frenchmen tjy the way they marched 
and by their good behavior in action. When they passed through the city on their way South 
the contrast between these tatterdemalion troops and the brilliantly dressed and thoroughly dis- 
ciplined French troops was very striking. The enthusiasm over these allies was very great. 
After they had gone there came in a few days more another occasion of great rejoicing when 
a rider from the South came in with the news that the Count de Grasse, with the French fleet, 
had arrived in the Chesapeake from the West Indies, had engaged the English fleet and defeated 
it and had thereby opened the way for transports with siege artillery to come in. (3n October 
18 came the surrender of the army of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. There were still small 
, engagements and skirmishes between various bodies of troops, but there was no doubt of final 
victory after Yorktown, and the end came with the treaty signed in Paris on November 30, 
1782, by Franklin, Adams and Jay for the United States, and by Oswald, Fitzherbert and 
Strachey for Great Britain. 

When the news of the surrender of Cornwallis reached Philadelphia on the morning of 
October 22, 1781, it started great rejoicing. It was arranged that there should be general illumi- 
nation and most of the houses did their best. But some, including nearly all the Quakers, re- 
fused to put candles in their windows in honor of the occasion. Mobs gathered and stoned 
houses so darkened, doing a great deal of damage in the breaking of windows and other tres- 
passes, and forcing many to illuminate. When troops came into the city bringing trophies of 
the surrender to present them to Congress on November 3, and when, later in the month. Gen- 
eral Washington and his wife visited the city, there were other joyful celebrations. The 
Washingtons took up their residence in the Chew House, on the west side of Third Street, 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



between Walnut and S])ruce Streets, until March 22, 17S2. 'j'lu' winter was one of i^reat 
gayety. There was great cordiality between the citizens and the i^^rench, of whom many had 
established themselves in the city, and many were the fetes and entertainments that gave evi- 
dence of the social favor ^with which the French visitors, and especially the Chevalier de la 
Luzerne, were regarded by the leaders of Philadelphia society. 

Morris made such a success with his Bank of Pennsylvania that he concluded, as a meas- 
ure of national finance, to establish a national bank. A French frigate, Le Resolue, arrived at 
Boston with 2,500,224 livres for the benefit of the American cause. I'he vessel had started 
for Philadelphia, but had got out of its course and thus reached Boston. The money, there- 
fore, had to be brought overland and had to pass through a strip of country which was still in 
British hands. But Morris planned an expedition and entrusted the execution of it to Tench 
Frances, who brought the treasure train, ox-drawn safely to Philadelphia in November, 1781. 
After using much of this money in careful and necessary expenditures Morris saved enough to 
subscribe $250,000 to the capital stock of the National Bank which was, on December 31, 1781, 
chartered by Congress as the Bank of North America, llie institution later became the storm 
center of political controversy, but in the chaotic conditions of ])ublic finance in the United States 
under the Confederation the value of this banc as a stabilizer of puljlic credit and an aid to 
financial administration is beyond dispute. 

The joyous celebration which followed the news of the birth of the dauphin of France, 
announced to Congress by the Chevalier de la Luzerne on May 13, 1782, seems a rather incon- 
gruous item in the history of those days of triumphant republicanism, but it was a tribute to 
France as an ally in the Revolution. Although the Whigs were fully conscious that the triumph 
of the fight for independence was inevitable, th;y did not ease up upon the proscription of Tories 
and Quakers. From the time that the news of General Benedict Arnold's going over to the 
enemy reached Philadelphia in September, 1780, the discovery and prosecution of traitors had 
taken on fresh vigor. After Arnold's treachery his residence, "Mount Pleasant," was seized by 
the state and for a time was rented to Baron Steuben, his chariot and horses were sold at the 
Cofifee House and his household furniture at the meat market and his wife was ordered out of 
the state for the duration of the war. A plot concocted by Tory refugees to steal the records 
of Congress was discovered in Philadelphia in November, 1781, and a man named John Moody 
was found guilty and hanged and his associate, Lawrence Marr, imprisoned for a time and aft- 
erward released. 

The more radical element, largely athiestic as well as being political extremists, who had 
been advocates of measures to force the acceptance of paper money at par, kept up their attacks 
upon the men of more conservative type. These attacks were carried on largely through the 
medium of Francis Bailey's Freeman's Journal, established in April, 1781, and Fleazer Oswald's 
Independent Gazetteer, begun a year later. From the beginning of the Republic the "yellow 
journal" has been with us. The shining marks of these attacks were the men of wealth in the 
community such as General Joseph Reed, General John Cadwalader, General Mifflin, John Dick- 
inson and Robert Morris. Several libel suits resulted, and some of the vilifiers were heavily fined. 

The law which had been passed for the gradual emancipation of slaves had been evaded by 
many selling their slaves to the South or to the West Indies. To counteract this practice the 
"Pennsylvania Society for the Promotion of the Abolition of Slavery and the Relief of Free 
Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage" was reorganized in 1784, in order to amend the law and 
prevent the shipment of slaves out of the State. The law was amended, and Pennsylvania took 
first place among those which, one by one, eliminated the curse of human slavery within their 
borders. 

After the surrender of Cornwallis until the treaty of peace was signed, Philadelphia saw 
practically none of the land operations, which were, for the most part small skirmishes and guerilla 



178 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 












THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



179 



forays. There were, however, some important ev^nits in naval warfare. A ship called the George 
Washington, which had done some good work for the American side earlier in the war. had 
heen captured by the British who, after fitting her up and renaming her the General Monk 
used her with damaging effect ofif the Delaware Capes. Most of the Philadelphia business men 
were losers by her ravages, and finally a group of them laid plans to stop her operation, by fit- 
ting out a vessel to capture the Monk. They bought a ship, which they named the Hyder Ali, and 
placed it under command of the Captain Barney. She was equipped with sixteen six-pounders, 
but was cleverly disguised as a merchant vessel. By a series of well-calculated maneuvers Barney 
got his fore-rigging entangled in the General Monk's jibboom, and in that close quarters raked her 
decks fore and aft with grape, canister and round shot, until she surrendered and was carried as a 
prize to Philadelphia, where she was refitted and went back to the American navy again, as the 
George Washington, with Captain Barney in command. 

This same Captain Barney, on March 12, 1783, brought to Philadelphia the news that Great 
Britain had formally acknowledged the independence of the United States. On March 23, 1783, 
the news of the actual signing of the preliminary treaty of peace on January 20 was brought by 
a French vessel, thirty-nine days out from Cadiz,and Minister Luzerne officially notified the French 
in America to cease hostilities against Great Britain. The Supreme Executive Council, on April 
16, officially proclaimed peace at the Court House. The peace was observed by many and continuous 
rejoicings, and so far as the outside world was concerned the thirteen States had by their patience, 
their valor, and some luck, established their contention that "these United Colonies are, and of 
right ought to be, Free and Independent States." And Philadelphia became the cradle of liberty and 
independence in the making. 




Dwelling and Counting House of Stephen Gir.^rd— 1830 



CHAPTER FOURTEEN 



A DECADE OF CONSTRUCTIVE WORK AND PARTY 
TURBULENCE— 1784 TO 1794 

The ratification of the definitive treaty of peace with England by Congress occurred on 
January 14, 1784, and the public celebration of the event was on January 22. A triumphal arch, 
designed by Charles Wilson Peale, was a feature of great prominence, being an elaborate edifice 50 
feet high and 35 feet wide. It was to have been illuminated by 1200 lamps. It was decorated by 
Mr. Peale with numerous paintings, but while the large crowd was waiting to see it lighted up the 
structure caught fire, and being made of canvas stretched over a wooden frame, was soon con- 
sumed. In the structure were rockets which were to have been discharged as a feature of the occa- 
sion, and, these exploding, many persons were wounded. One, Sergeant O'Neill, of the Artil- 
lery, was killed. Soon after a subscription was taken for rebuilding the arch, and one with new 
transparencies was erected in front of the State House and exhibited on May 10, 1784. 

Philadelphia had a right to joyously celebrate the accomplishment of a victorious peace. She 
had passed through a time of stress and testing, those in control of afifairs being much harassed 
by Tory intrigue on the one hand, and the excesses of Whig extremists on the other. Except dur- 
ing the few months of British occupation, Philadelphia had been the capital city of the Confedera- 
tion. Here the Continental Congress sat and deliberated, and here the diplomatic activities of the 
United States were formulated. The most distinguished intermediary of the Republic in Europe, 
and the most potent voice in the final arrangements of peace was Philadelphia's famous citizen, 
Benjamin Franklin. Through all the sufifering and turmoil the city was the backbone of support 
of the Revolution and bore the most glorious part in supporting that great movement to victory. 

Following the celebration of peace, the repair of damage and rehabilitation of trade became 
the duty and occupation of Philadelphia. The removal of obstructions in the river, the increase 
of shipping and the introduction of manufactures were various features of the constructive work 
into which Philadelphia entered with zest. ;' 

Robert Morris, from the Office of Finance, complained of the weak and impotent character of 
the Government of the Confederation. Morris was struggling to pay the public debt. The duty 
to pay was upon the Confederation, but the only means of paying was through the contributions 
of the States. If the States refused or neglected to pay Congress was without power to coerce 
them. He wrote and argued in favor of a union which should make the obligations of the States 
to the Confederation really obligatory and coercive. Either a much stronger Union, or anarchy, 
seemed to Morris to be the outlook for the early future. When he retired from the Office of 
Finance, November 1, 1784, he published an address to the people in which he drew attention to 
the need for the strengthening of the bond of union. 'Tf there be not one Government which can 
draw forth and direct the combined efforts of our united America, our independence is but a name, 
our freedom a shadow, and our dignity a dream." Morris had filled with great efficiency the task of 
endeavoring to finance the Congressional government, and had paid many of its current debts with 
his own notes. i 

In June, 1783, a small band of soldiers of the Pennsylvania Line came down from Lancaster 
to demand their back pay. Congress, in alarm, removed its sessions to Princeton. The Supreme 
Executive Council, which also met in the State House, was requested to call out the militia, but 
as it did not act the War Office decided to receive the men into the Barracks, in the Northern 
Liberties. On June 21 about thirty of the men went to the State House, and finding that Congress 
was not in session, went to the room where the Supreme Executive Council was in session, 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA isi 



threatening dire results if the men were not paitl in twenty minutes. Other armed troops came 
and joined the mob, but the men were persuaded to return to their barracks, whence they marched 
forth day after day to intimidate the town, making threats also against the Bank of North 
America. The disturbance subsided when Washington sent a force of 1500 Continental soldiers to 
compel them to return to their homes. Two of the ringleaders were sentenced to be shot and were 
led out for execution and faced by a hie of soldiers with loaded muskets, but were then informed 
that they had been pardoned by Congress. Some of the other mob leaders were whipped before 
they were released. Congress was in session at Princeton until December, 1783. then for a short 
time at Annapplis and later at Trenton until it established itself in New York in January, 1785. 
Efiforts were made from time to time, to induce Congress to return to Philadelphia, but its expe- 
rience with the mutinous soldiery inspired it with distrust of the Pennsylvania State Government. 

Benjamin Franklin, after nine years abroad, returned to Piiiladelphia, arriving on a French 
vessel on September 14. 1785. He had been the creator, in large measure, of the alliance with 
France, which was so strong a factor in the success of the Revolution. He had made for himself 
an international reputation as a philosopher as well as a diplomat, and the part he had taken in 
furtherance of his country's cause had especially endeared him to the people of Philadelphia. The 
bells of the city were rung in his honor as he landed, and a delegation met him at the wharf with 
speeches of welcome, and eulogies of his services in Europe. He was at once elected to the Supreme 
Executive Council and made its president. The State gave to the American Philosophical Society, 
of which Franklin was president, the site in the rear of the State House in Fifth Street, upon 
which was erected its hall, which is still located there. 

From the date of the treaty of peace many and strenuous efforts w^ere made by Tories who 
had declined or failed to take the oath of allegiance to the United States to secure the repeal of the 
Test laws, and the restoration to them of political rights. The subject recurred at every session 
of the Legislature until in 1789 all the Test laws were repealed. The Bank of North America's 
charter had been annulled by the Assembly of Pennsylvania, but in the session of 1786 an 
endeavor was made to have the Assembly reconsider the act of annulment. Thereupon the stock- 
holders applied for a new charter to the State of Delaware, which granted it. When this had been 
secured an endeavor was made to get the Assembly of Pennsylvania to renew the Charter, but the 
measure was defeated at that session. The matter again came up the following winter on new peti- 
tions for a Charter, and in March. 1787. the bill was passed, chartering the bank for fourteen 
years, by a vote of thirty-five to thirty-one. 

Upon the concerted effort of some of the mo;t prominent people of the State, of whom Chief 
Justice McKean was the leader and most eft'ective spokesman, the General Assembly in September, 
1786, revised the criminal laws so as to abolish capital punishment for all crimes except murder 
and treason. Burglaries, robberies and other felonies were to be thereafter punished by the long 
terms or for life at hard labor, and vagrancy and other oft'enses formerly punished at the whip- 
ping-post were to find their penalty in hard labor for shorter terms. Pennsylvania was thus the 
first commonwealth to do away with the barbarities which had. up to that time, been features of the 
penalties in Anglo-Saxon criminal law. 

But the passage of this Act did not end the need for reform in the administration of criminal 
law, for the attempt to use the services of the convicts in street work led to various untoward 
results. '1 he comicts, with their heads and beards close shaven weekly, and dressed in ])arti-colored 
clothing, the more dangerous restrained by ball and chain, were worked in gangs, cleaning the 
streets and in grading and levelling in \arious parts of the city. There were riots in the Walnut 
Street Jail in 1786 and again in 1787. in both of which convicts were killed and wounded. The 
wheelbarrow gangs occasionally got out of hand and assaulted nassers-bv. Escapes from jail were 
not infrecment and in October. 1788, thirty-three prisoners escaped from the Walnut Street iail. 



182 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

A few were recaptured, but the others took to the highway, and robbed and terrorized the people of 
Philadelphia and the surrounding country. Employment of convicts on the streets was ended in 
1789. 

The manner of treatment of prisoners in Philadelphia was marked by few considerations of a 
humanitarian nature. A narrative by Mannasseh Cutler, who visited Philadelphia in 1787, tells 
how the prisoners in the jail would beg alms of passers-by, pushing through the bars their caps, 
attached to long reed poles, to receive the contributions of the pedestrians, who, if they failed to 
drop coins in the caps were roundly cursed for their indifference. In February, 1785, a plaintive 
appeal of prisoners in the east wing of the jail was published in the Pennsylvania Mercury, com- 
plaining of their distressed and starving condition, and absolute want of food and other common 
necessaries of life. The only allowance from the county was a fourpenny loaf every tweniy-four 
hours. For the rest they had to depend upon barrows which were passed about the city on Mon- 
days, Wednesdays and Fridays to collect the refuse of citizens' kitchens for the use of the prison- 
ers. These contributions, the prisoners claimed, had so fallen off as to only meagerly supplement 
the bread ration. Two prisoners had recently died from hunger. Others scarcely had clothing 
enough to cover their nakedness, and if the winter had not been exceedingly mild many would 
doubtless have perished from the cold. 

The conditions were deplorable. Before the Revolutionary War, while the official treatment 
of prisoners had been much the same, there had been in Philadelphia a philanthropic organization 
which did much to alleviate the condition of the prisoners. But this society had been disbanded 
by the war and no other agency of benevolence hid taken its place. In 1787, however, the need 
for a similar effort had become manifest to many humane citizens and the Society for the Allevia- 
tion of the Miseries of the Public Prisons was organized, with Rev. William White, D. D. (after- 
ward Bishop White), as its president. The society was one of great usefulness and vigor, and 
turned on the light of publicity upon the shortcomings and negligences of prison management — 
the insutffciency of food and clothing, the indecent confining of men and women together in the 
.same rooms, the lack of sanitary convenience, or of personal cleanliness of prisoners, the selling 
of spirituous liquors to convicts by keepers, the lack of provisions against the spread of epidemic 
disease, the total lack of religious or other instruction, and the mingling of the most hardened crim- 
inals with others. The Assembly was appealed to. and passed a series of remedial laws which cor- 
rected these abuses and made Pennsylvania the pioneer of prison reform among American States. 
Travelers from Europe, as well as those from other States were favorably impressed by the 
reforms wrought in prison management in Philadelphia, not only at that time but afterward. 
Charles Dickens, visiting this country more than half a century later, was much impressed by what 
he saw in the prisons of the Quaker City. 

Literary and educational progress had lapsed greatly during the stirring days of the Revolu- 
tion, but revived toward its close and afterward. Provost Smith, Jacob Duche and others who had 
been prominent as writers before the day of Independence were no longer acceptable as writers, 
because of their Tory sentiments. Christopher Sower, of Germantown, who had been prom- 
inent as a publisher, and had issued, in German, the first edition of the Bible ever published in 
North America, had also fallen under the ban because of his royalist sympathies, being arrested as 
a spy, roughly handled, and deprived of this property by confiscation. He died in poverty in Ger- 
mantown. 

Robert Bell, a printer of Philadelphia, printed editions of standard books such as Milton's 
Paradise Lost, Johnson's Rasselas, Young's Night Thoughts, and many others, and Blackstone's 
Commentaries on the Common Law of England, which remained for a century after the Revolu- 
tion a first text-book for law-students in America as well as England. Robert Aitken, another 
Philadelphia printer of that period, is distinguished as having published, in 1782, the first American 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



183 



edition of the Bible in luiglish. Aitkcn, in 1775, had establi.shed the Pennsylvania Magazine and 
American Monthly Magazine, which was the first vehicle for the writings of Thomas I'aine when 
he first came to Philadelphia, but which suspended publication before the British occupation. 

h^rancis Bailey, in 1778, established the United States Magazine, with Philip h>eneau as 
editor. He contributed much verse, as well as prose, but the times were not i)roj)ili()us for the 
success of literary ventures, and the maj^azine went out of existence on the completion of its first 
volume. Freneau went to sea in 1779, but returned two years later and became editor of a paper 
published by Bailey and known as the Freeman's journal or North American Intelligencer. It was 
a belligerent sheet of very radical tinge and virulent in its attacks upon men who were of conserv- 
ative opinions, or who opposed extreme measures. This high-])ressure work was ke])t up for three 
years when it was discontinued, and in 1784 Freneau went to sea again. 




Stephen Girard's Bank 

Matthew Carey, who was born in Dublin in 1760, and who had served in prison for his 
violent speeches against England, came .to Philadelphia in 1784. He was befriended by Lafayette, 
and soon became active in j)olitical discussion as an advocate of democratic principles, and of the 
Constitution of Pennsylvania. He was the main organizer of a society called "The Lately 
Adopted Sons of Pennsylvania," and he established a paper called the Pennsylvania Herald. He 
was a writer of much vigor and was soon engaged in angry altercation with Colonel h'Jeazer Oswald, 
editor of the Independent Gazetteer, which ended in a duel in New jersey, opposite Philadelphia, 
in which Carey was seriously wounded in the thijh. Carey and other young men started the 
Columbian Magazine in 1786, but Carey soon withdrew from that and, in the same year, in- 
augurated the American Museum, w^hich he continued until 1792, InU did not make it a financial 



184 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

success, although it was highly appreciated by many of the leading Americans, including Wash- 
ington. It was made up of extracts and selections from American and foreign newspapers and 
magazines, and was very useful to those who, in those days of restricted intercourse, wished to 
get a broad view of things of present interest. 

The Packet was established in 1771 by John Dunlap. an Irishman who had succeeded to the 
business of his uncle, William Dunlap, an early Philadelphia bookseller. He conducted his paper 
with little interruption during the war, removing it to Lancaster for the period of the British occu- 
pation. In 1784 David C. Claypoole became associated with Dunlap, and on September 21, 1784, 
the Packet, which had previously been issued three times a week, became the first daily newspaper 
in America. It later became Claypoole's Daily Advertiser, and afterward Poulson's Daily Adver- 
tiser. 

Although independence had been gained, political questions agitated the people. Many real- 
ized that the Confederation was a governmental rope of sand, void of strength or stability. Some 
of the most prominent Americans were in favor of a strongly centralized American government. 
Others, though jealous of State autonomy, recognized that a strengthening of the Federal Govern- 
ment was necessary. Congress, which had moved to Princeton in 1783, had declined many invita- 
tions to come back to Philadelphia, was in New York in 1786, when it sent out a call to the 
several States to send delegates to a Constitutional Convention to strengthen the federal organiza- 
tion, to meet in Philadelphia in May, 1787. 

The General Assembly of Pennsylvania selected its seven delegates on December 30, 1786. 
They were James Wilson, Robert Morris, Gouverneur Morris, Thomas Mifflin. George Clymer. 
Jared Ingersoll. and Thomas Fitzsimmons. Benjamin Franklin was later added to the delegation. 
The convention was to have met on May 14, but it was May 25, before there was a quorum at the 
State House it having been provided that seven States must be represented before the Convention 
could do business. George Washington, who headed the delegation from Virginia, arrived in 
Philadelphia on May 13. He was met by the City Troop and escorted to the residence of Robert 
Morris, whose guest he continued until the contention adjourned. Although the several States 
had made, in all, seventy-three appointments, only fifty-five ever appeared in the convention. No 
delegates ever reported from Rhode Island, and New Hampshire's delegation did not appear 
until late in July, 1787. 

Of the convention General Washington was unanimously elected president, and William 
Jackson treasurer. The convention remained in session until September 18, when the draft of 
the Constitution was prepared and submitted for the ratification of the several states. During 
the period of the convention Washington was the recipient of many attentions from the peo- 
ple of Philadelphia, and on the afternoon of September 18 he started in his chariot for Mount 
Vernon, accompanied by his friends. Robert and Gouverneur Morris, to Gray's Ferry, reach- 
ing Mount Vernon on the evening of September 22. 

The proceedings of the convention had been secret and not altogether harmonious. Of the 
fifty-five members who had attended the sessions of the convention and had taken part in the 
debates over its various provisions, the result of which have been of vital influence upon the 
laws and liberties of the American people, only thirty-nine gave the immortal document the 
approval of their signatures. Two from New York withdrew from the convention before 
its work was completed ; three refused to sign the Constitution, and eleven failed to appear 
at the meeting when their signatures should have been appended. Alexander Hamilton's was 
the sole New York signature, and Pennsylvania and Delaware were the only two States whose 
entire delegations, seven and five respectively, signed the document. These two States were 
also the first to ratify it — Delaware on December 7, 1787, with practically negligible opposition. 
and Pennsylvania on December 12, after a strenuous campaign, full of partisan rancor. The 



TUli STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 185 

men whose work counted most aggressively in the formation of the Constitution had heen 
Alexander Hamilton, of New York; James Wilson, of J'hiladelphia, and James Madison, of 
Mrginia. 

It was in Philadelpliia that the radical wing (jf the Constitutional jiarty, designated l)y their 
opponents as "Democrats" had heen most active. They had heen the strongest defenders of the 
State Constitution of 1776, and the sturdiest opponents of centralized Federal pow'er, and its 
advocates, known as "Federalists" or "Repuhlicans." When the character of the Constitution 
was made known hy its publication they at once saw in it a system of government destined to 
undermine the liljcrties of the American people. They saw in the Senate a House of Lords 
which wotild at all times block the path of i\\'^ ])opular will. Their leaders were fanatically 
adherent to the principles of Jean Jacques Rousseau and of the French democrats who were soon 
to create a reign of terror in France. 

When the Constitutional convention adjourned on September 18 the General Assembly of 
the State was in session in another part of the State House. The Assembly was to adjourn 
on September 29. and the opponents of the new Federal Constitution were resting easy in the 
belief that it would not be possible for the Assembly, before adjournment, to put through a 
resolution for a State convention to consider the subject of ratifying the new organic instru- 
ment. But to the great alarm of the Democratic faction George Clymer, who had been one of 
the delegates to the Constitutional convention, introduced, on September 28, resolutions call- 
ing for a State convention to be held in November. Some of the members from the central and 
western counties protested against consideration of the resolutions, but were defeated by a vote 
of 43 to 19. The House then adjourned until 4 o'clock, and when it reassembled it was found 
that nineteen members had absented themselves in order to break up a cjuorum. The sergeant- 
at-arms. sent to bring the absent members into the hall, returned with the report that they 
had refused to come. The session was then adjourned until the next day when the nineteen 
were again absent and the sergeant-at-arms was again instructed to bring in the absentees. A 
crowd outside in sympathy wnth the proposed re^^olution decided to help the sergeant-at-arms and 
finding on the streets two of the recalcitrant members, James McCalmont, of Franklin County, 
and Jacob Miley, of Dauphin County, seized them and delivered them, wildly protesting, with 
clothing torn and other dilapidations, into the hall. McCalmont asked for permission to with- 
draw, but both were made to stay and be counted, with the result that the resolution passed 
calling an election for November 6 to elect members of a State convention to meet November 21 
to act upon the adoption by the State of the proposed Federal Constitution. The Federalist 
candidates, Benjamin Rush, George Latimer, Hilary Baker, Thomas McKean and James W^ilson, 
were elected from the city, Latimer receiving 1215 votes. The Constitutionalists had placed 
Benjamin Franklin at the head of their ticket, though he had signed the Federal Constitution 
as a delegate. He was also the author of the State Constitution, which the democratic faction held 
to represent its political faith. But even his great name could only command 235 votes. David 
Rittenhouse (the astronomer), Charles Petit, John Steinmetz, and James Irvine were tlie other 
candidates on that ticket, all receiving less than Franklin, Irvine only 132 votes. 

The convention organized with Frederick Augustus Muhlenl)erg as president and James 
Campbell as secretary, and sixty-nine members i^resent. When the final vote was reached, on 
December 12, forty-six voted for ratification and twenty-three against. There was much rejoic- 
ing among the Federalists of the city, and the subsequent ratifications l)y otlicr States created 
deep interest. As the Constitution was to become efl:'ective on its adoption by nine States, the 
ninth ratification was anxiously awaited. It was given by New Hampshire on June 21., 1788, and 
Philadelphia decided to make the Fourth of Ju'y celebration of that year an especially jubilant 
one in honor of that outcome. It was signalized by a "Grand Federal Procession," a pageant 



186 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



of the most elaborate description with vehicles, floats and 5000 in the line. At the end of the 
procession there were 17,000 people assembled on Union Green to partake of a cold collation, 
with American porter, beer and cider as the only liquids, no spirits nor wines being introduced. 
The long and elaborate report of Francis Hopkinson emphasizes that fact with its corollary that 
after an address by James Wilson and a feu dc joic of three cheers, the dinner was eaten, 
patriotic toasts were drunk in the mild beverages indicated and at 6 o'clock in the evening the 
citizens retired soberly to their respective homes. 

The Anti-Federal party did not disband with the adoption of the Constitution. It held a 
convention at Harrisburg in September, 1788, and nominated a general ticket headed by Blan* 
McClenachan and Charles Petit, and passed resolutions urging a revision of the Constitution. 
The Federalists were outspoken in opposition to the Harrisburg nominees, urging that the Fed- 
eral government should be in the hands of its friends, and called a new convention to be held 
at Lancaster. The nominees selected to represent the city and county of Philadelphia, Thomas 




Market Street in the Early i8oo 



Fitzsimons and George Clymer, were triumphantly elected, the poll standing: Fitsimons 2478, 
Clymer 2468, McClenachan 575, and Petit 687 ; the Congressional election being held in Novem- 
ber. The first election for President and Vice-President of the United States was held in Jan- 
uary, 1789, the Federal ticket being successful throughout the State, and being headed by 
James Wilson of Philadelphia, who had been ons of the leading Constitution-makers. The vot- 
ing for President and Vice-President was upon a plan provided for in the Constitution, but 
later changed by which each elector voted for two persons, the one receiving the highest num- 
ber of votes becoming President and the next highest Vice-President. Pennsylvania, which 
had ten of the seventy-three electoral votes, gave all of them to Washington, eight to John 
Adams, and two to John Hancock. 

Congress was to have convened in New York on March 4, 1789. but the lack of a quorum, 
partly due to the slothfulness of the Congressmen, and partly to the horrible state of the roads, 
compelled adjournment, day by day, until April 6, when Richard Henry Lee, the twelfth Sen- 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 187 

ator arrived, creating a quorum, and enabling the Congress to officially announce the election of 
George Washington to be President and John Adams, Nice-President, of the United States. 
The nominees had to be notified of their election by ccjuriers on horseback, and the passing 
through Philadelphia of (ieneral Washington on April 20 and 21, 1789, was made an occasion of 
jubilation. He spent the night in the city, at th:' home of Robert Morris. 

The Pennsylvania Assembly had chosen Ivobert Morris, of Philadelphia, and William 
Maclay, of Harrisburg. as the two first Senators from Pennsylvania. Morris was a Federal- 
ist of the most pronounced type, while Maclay was Anti-Federalist, and each a leader of his 
own side of politics. Morris was the richest man in America and, with Alexander Plamilton, of 
New York, directed the policies of the party which was dominant during the first three Presi- 
dential terms. 

It soon became settled that the seat of Government would not remain in New York. Sev- 
eral places claimed it, but it was soon decided that a new Federal city should be built on the 
Potomac, to be under exclusive Federal jurisdiction and to be ready for occupancy in 1800. 
while meanwhile the sessions of Congress should be held in IMiiladelphia, beginning with the 
session to convene in December, 1790. President Washington, who left New York on August 
31, 1790, stayed in Philadelphia from September 2 to September 7, and went South to remain 
until he came back to Philadelphia November 27. From that date until 1800 the city was the seat 
of government of the United States. The President took up his residence in a house which had 
been the home of Robert Morris, who offered it for Washington's use until some proper official 
home should be provided. It had formerly been the home of Richard Penn ; had been occupied 
by Sir William Howe and later by General Benedict Arnold. 

The coming of President Washington and \'ice-President Adams with their families was 
very stinuilating to the social gayeties of the city. Both families were aristocratic in their social 
tendencies and some of the ultra-democrats soon began to talk about the "Royal Court," and 
monarchical pomp as characteristic of the President, Vice-President and other officers of the 
government. 

The Federal officers of Philadelphia appointed by the first administration were Sharpe 
Delaney, Collector of the Port ; Frederick Phile. Naval Officer ; and William Macpherson, Sur- 
veyor of the Port ; these officers being located in the Custom House, which was then on the 
corner of Second and Walnut Streets ; Robert F'atton was Postmaster, with the postoffice at 36 
South Front Street. Francis Hopkinson was appointed Judge of the United States District 
Court ; William Lewis, United States District Attorney, and Clement Biddle. United States 
Marshall. 

In March, 1789, the Assembly met a very general desire in deciding to call an election for 
delegates to a convention which should be empowered to frame a new^ Constitution for the 
State. The Constitution framed by Franklin in 1776, while working well in the early Revolu- 
tionary period, had long been proved inadequate, and with the triumph of Federalism had be- 
come incongruous. But it had friends who seemed to regard it as the Sacred Ark of Liberty, 
which should not be touched. But in spite of the opposition of the friends of the Constitution 
of 1776, there was a substantial majority for a new organic law among the delegates elected in 
October, 1789, among whom James Wilson was leader of the city and General Mififiin of the 
Philadelphia county delegation. The convention met at the State House on November 24, and 
elected General Mifflin, who had been President of the State since Franklin's retirement in 
November. 1788, to the presidency of the convention. Discussions were jirotracted. as the 
friends of the system of 1776 fought to retain it, as far as possible in the new instrument. At 
the end of February the convention adjourned to meet in the following August, and in Sep- 
tember, 1790, the Constitution was completed, upon lines similar in organization to those which 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



had been adopted by the sister States. The executive was to be known as Governor, instead of 
President ; the Supreme Executive Council was abohshed, and the legislative power vested in a 
General Assembly composed of a Senate and House of Representatives, and in other ways the 
State government was made to harmonize with the Federal Constitution. At the election which 
followed General Mifflin was elected Governor of the State by a vote of 27,118 against 2819 
for Arthur St. Clair. 

The city, which had been without corporate organization since the abrogation of the old 
Penn charter, was reincorporated by Act of Assembly dated March 11, 1789, creating "the 
mayor, aldermen and citizens of Philadelphia" a body corporate and politic. It provided for 
the election of fifteen aldermen with seven-year terms and thirty common councilmen with three- 
year terms. The aldermen were to elect the mayor from their own number, and Samuel Powel, 
who had been the last mayor under the old organization, abolished in 1776, was selected for 
the first mayor under the new charter. 

Benjamin Franklin died on April 17, 1790. at the age of 85, and was buried in the Christ 
Church burying ground, beside his wife, Deborah, who had died in December, 1774, just before 
Franklin's return from England. Twenty thousand people witnessed the funeral. The pall- 
hearers were Governor Mifflin. Chief Justice McKean, Mayor Powel, David Rittenhouse, Thomas 
Willing and William Bingham. The tolling of muffled bells and the firing of minute guns added 
to the solemnity of the occasion. A, memorial service, arranged for by the American Philo- 
sophical Society, was held at Zion Church, at Fourth and Cherry Streets, on March 2, 1791. 
Provost Smith, of the University, delivered the oration, before a distinguished congregation 
which included President and Mrs. Washington, Vice-President and Mrs. Adams, senators and 
representatives, both Federal and State, foreign ministers and consuls and many leading 
citizens. 

Among the important events of this era was the chartering, on February 25, 1791, of the 
Bank of the United States, with a capital of $10,000,000, of which $2,000,000 was subscribed by 
the United States. Thomas Willing, president of the Bank of North America, was elected 
president of the new bank. John Nixon succeeding him in the old one. The Assembly, on March 
30, 1793. incorporated a State bank, the Bank of Pennsylvania, subscribing one-third of the 
capital stock, and John Barclay became the president of that bank. Although the Continental 
Congress^ in 1782 and in 1786. had passed resolutions for a coinage, it had failed to establish a 
mint. For want of change a man by the name of Harper, a saw manufacturer, made dies and 
produced a penny, with a poor likeness of Washington, in 1791, which went into circulation and 
is now a very rare coin. He and others made various other coins, which found their way into 
circulation. But the need of a national currency was very great, and in April. 1792. under an 
Act of Congress. David Rittenhouse was appointed director of the mint. A building was 
erected in Seventh Street, near Filbert Street, and the mint operations of the United States be- 
gan in Septeml^er, 1792, with the minting of six pounds of old copper into pennies, using some 
coining presses which had been lirought from England. 

The capture of the French Bastile on July 14, 1789. by a republican mob, and the revolu- 
tion which followed, started a ferment in political discussion in the United States and divided 
parties more strongly than ever. The friendship between America and France engendered by 
the aid of Lafayette and the others, had been very strong, and had lingered in public conscious- 
ness so that the birthdav of the French King would be celebrated by banquets. But the fact that 
France had become a republic aroused great enthusiasm with the radical element, especially with 
those who had become imbued with the ideas of Thomas Paine's book "The Rights of Man." 
Paine had gone to France to assist in the revolutionary struggle. The French Revolution, from 
the Fall of the Bastile in July 14. 1789. to the death of Louis XVI in January. 1793. l)y the 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



I by 



guillotine, was j)ractically cuincidcnl willi W'a.sh.ngton's lirsl term, and the relations between the 
United States and the new repuhlie became the most vexatious question that disturbed the ad- 
ministration. A very large section of tlie American people synipatliized with and applauded 
the Revolution, notwithstanding the extremes to which the French revolutionists went. 

The trouble became accentuated when Jidmond Charles Julouard Genet came witli cre- 
dentials from the new republic, and received an ovation when he landed at Charfeston which 
was continued for several months, lie became a poj^ular hero. At Philadelphia he received 
such lavish expression of sympathy for h^-ance that, after his credentials as minister had been 
accepted, he began to issue commissions and letters (jf marque for privateers, and not only 
undertook to convert American vessels, with their crews, into French vessels of war, Init also 
to encourage attacks on British vessels in American waters. As Washington had. with the 
advice of his cabinet, issued a proclamation of neutrality in April, 1793, Mr. Jefferson, Secre- 
tary of State, in June, 1793, notified Genet that he must cease arming and equipping privateers 
in American ports. Genet undertook to defy Washington, claiming that as he was operating on 
the treaty of 1778, made by France with Congress, only Congress had the right to deal with him, 
therefore he demanded that a special session of Congress be called to decide the matter. Wash- 
ington thereupon demanded the recall of Genet which, after some delay, was sent. When it 
came, his party, that of the Girondists, was no longer in France, and its members were being 
guillotined by the Jacobins of the mountain. So Genet, when he lost his office, decided to stay 
in New York, as a citizen, and lived there until he died in 1836. 

But for a long time the tumults of politics raged around Citizen Genet and his contentions 
as a storm center. The Revolution was so recent that the popular mind was full of hatred for 
England, which had so recently been endeavoring to subjugate and coerce the colonies, and 
whose jailers had so maltreated the patriots who had been imj^risoned. Conversely, the friend- 
liness of France in the Revolution, and the personal particii)ation of numerous Frenchmen in 
the War for Independence had made France widely popular in America. Yet, on the other 
hand there were strong ties of blood and institutions which, with identity of language, caused 
many to regard a state of amity with England as something to be deeply desired. Community 
of literature, of commercial methods, of social habits, of political and moral standards made the 
Americans essentially English in mental equipment. The Revolution had only come aI)out be- 
cause a stupid king and an obtuse parliament had not listened to the earlier demand of the 
colonists for equal rights with other Englishmen on the hasis of home rule. The success of 
the Revolution had been a triumph for the colonists because it had established the rights of the 
colonists to participation in Magna Charta, the Bill of Rights, the writ of habeas corpus, trial 
by jury and the excellent Common Law system of jurisj^rudence. Having this common heritage 
the majority of Americans looked to Britain as the Mother Country. 

But there were many who were greatly attracted by France, lighting for "liberty, equality, 
and fraternity." and Citizen Genet had the sympathy and applause of a very large numljer, 
l)erhaps a majority, of the American people when he made his first claims to recognition. lUi' 
he lost many of his supporters when he became insolent in his replies to General Washington. 
But in the course of the controversy many had become definitely hostile to the President. Ben- 
jamin Franklin Bache, grandson of Benjamin Franklin, and publisher of the General Advertiser 
( lM)pularly known as the Aurora because of th? rays of light in the title design of the paper), 
was frankly antagonistic to Washington, whom he denounced as a monarchist. Freneau, editor 
of the National Gazette, was much more rabid in his jibes at the President. Many French came 
to Philadelphia, some in sympathy with the Revolution, and some emigres fleeing from it or from 
the negro insurrection in Santo Domingo. There was. as related in Rosengarten's "French Colon- 
ists and Exiles," a French colony in Philadelphia, located in Front Street and running west on 



190 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

Pine and Spruce Streets. Most of the French here were anti-Bourhon, though there was a 
considerahle number of loyalists who hoped that the king and queen might come to America if 
they should get out of the hands of their captors. But the republican majority among the local 
French was backed by a strong American contingent^ who. with the tricolor tied to their button- 
holes, proclaimed their partisanship of the French Revolutionary Cause, and, as John x\dams 
tells us. made daily threats to drag Washington from his house or to upset the government by 
a new Revolution, unless it should declare war against England and in favor of the French 
Revolution. A bibtilous crowd made the nights vocal with the "Ca Ira" and the "Marseillaise," 
danced the "Carmagnole," wore Liberty caps, and inveighed against the government. 

This revolutionary fervor would have doubtless culminated in bloody riots but for the ter- 
rible visitation of yellow fever in most virulent fury in the summer of 1793. It was not the 
first visitation of the scourge, which had come to the city with varying degrees of severity for 
several years. But the severity of the attack of 1793 far outran the worst of previous years, 
and the sanitarv arrangements and medical treatment with which the municipality and the doc- 
tors endeavored to combat the disease were totally inadequate. This was not due to the laxity of 
effort, but to the ignorance of the nature and treatment of the disease. In former years it 
had been chiefly the poor people who lived in the bottom lands near the river who had been the 
victims. They were the earliest attacked in the 1793 visitation also, but in August the promi- 
nent families in the uplands were also victims, and the disease spread in all directions w^ith 
great rapidity. Ten doctors were among the fatalities of the epidemic, and Dr. Benjamin Rush, 
the city's leading physician, was attacked by it. btit recovered, as did also Alexander Hamilton 
and Governor Mifflin. 

Outside towns quarantined against Philadelphia, and exaggerated accounts were spread of 
the extent of its devastation. The truth was sad enough. About five thotisand persons fell vic- 
tims to its ravages, and it was not until November 14 that Governor Mifflin, proclaiming the 
cessation of the epidemic, named a day in December for Thanksgiving over its departure. 

The anti-English, pro-French agitation broke out again soon after. Although on October 
16, 1793, Marie Antoinette had been beheaded by the guillotine, as her husband, Louis X\T, had 
on January 21 of the same year, the news had little effect on the ultra-reds of Philadelphia. 
February 6, 1794, anniversary of the French and American Alliance, was made the occasion of 
a renewal of the agitation by means of a dinner at which the crew of a French East Indiaman 
were the guests. The pro-French sentiment was evidenced by the wearing of the tricolor and 
the addressing of each other as "Citizen." It continued to be expressed by jubilations over 
every French victory and was the forerunner of much political turmoil. 

Meanwhile diplomacy had been at work in London, John Jay having been sent to England 
as a special envoy in 1794 to negotiate a commercial treaty. The result was the Treaty of 
Amity, Commerce and Navigation between the United States and Great Britain, concluded in 
November, 1794, although its terms were not known in Philadelphia until July 1, 1795. 



CHAPTER 



F I t 



E E N 



POLITICAL TURMOIL— FROM THE JAY TREATY TO THE 
SECOND WAR WLLH BRITAIN 



It was several years after the Constitution of tlie United States had been in oi)eratioii 
l)cfore the radical elements became resigned to the ide^i of obedience to Federal power. The 
Whiskey Insurrection in Western Pennsylvania was the hrst serious outbreak, and was organ- 
ized as a protest against the new Federal Excise Law of 1794. Pennsylvania troops, under the 
[)ersonal command of 

Governor Mifflin, and , . — -r— — -■'^^ ;--^^jj^^^s&ij j ^ . J'aaflwg.' 

Southern troops head- 
ed by "Light-horse" 
Harry I^e, got the out- 
break under control, 
hut it was a personal 
\isit of President 
Washington to the dis- 
turbed districts that 
tinally impressed the 
insurgents w i t h the 
idea of the absolute 
necessity of obedience 
to Federal laws. 

The result was a 
salutary lesson to many 
of those who had been 
most ^'ociferous i n 
their laudation o f 
French red-republican- 
ism. The troops, re- 

turning triumphant from the campaign against the wliiskey insurgents of the West in 
December, 1794. made a big impression, and did much to strengthen Federal sentiment in the 
city. But there was still a strong and vociferous anti-Federal i)arty. which insisted on seeing 
in the Constitution of the United States and its supporters an insidious endeavor to foist upon 
the American people the theory and practice of monarchism, with John Adams, Alexander Ham- 
ilton and John Jay as the leading factors in the monarchical plot. These anti-Federalists were 
also the leaders in the pro-French propaganda, though the Republicans in Paris were torn by 
faction and were working the guillotine overtime. Fauchet, who had succeeded Genet as French 
minister, had been recalled, as the result of another turn of the political wheel in Paris, and was 
succeeded by Citizen Adet, who was made much of by the anti-Federal agitators. 

The news of the treaty made with England by John Jay roused the anti-Federalists to fury. 
Jay was denounced as "the evil genius of Western America" and he was burnt in effigy. A copy 
of "Jay's Treaty" was fastened to a pole and burned by a mob in front of the house of Ham- 
mond, the British minister, in Second Street. Demonstrations were made by the opponents of 
the treaty, with whom were the members of the French Colony and a large contingent of Irish 
who had recently arrived. The French minister, without much res])ect for the rules of diplomacy. 




Arch Strekt Fekky 



192 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




Residence of Morkis and Washington 



was outspoken in the expression of his displeasure over the signing of the treaty. The Senate 
ratified the treaty and Washington signed it. Washington was denounced as a "grand llama" in 
Bache's Advertiser, which daily charged the Federalist leaders with betraying American inter- 
ests. In meetings Jay was charged with having sold American liberty and independence for 
"British gold." 

The treaty was made an issue in the elections of 1795 in Philadelphia, the treaty-men having 
a majoritv. but in the Presidential election of 1796 the "Democrats" or "Republicans" as they were 
then inditferently named, were successful over the Federalists, there being chosen thirteen 
Republican and two Federalist electors. Under the plan of voting then in vogue each elector 
had two votes, the one receiving the highest in the entire country becoming the President, 
and the one second in the voting Vice-President of the United States. The vote of Pennsyl- 
vania stood, in the State Electoral College : Jefferson 
14, Burr 13, Pinckney 2, Adams 1. In the country 
the result made John Adams President and Thomas 
Jeft'erson Vice-President. Washington's Farewell 
Address, which took him out of the candidacy and 
fixed the precedent against a third term in the Presi- 
dency, was printed on Septemlier 19, 1796, in Dunlap's 
Advertiser. His elimination of himself from further 
executive honors greatly weakened the "monarchical" 
taunts of the "Republicans." In spite of all the attacks 
upon him, Washington was intensely revered by the 
vast majority of the people. He could, without ques- 
tion, have been reelected President if he had so de- 
sired. His birthday in 1797 was celebrated with especial zest and enthusiasm, with military parades, 
artillery salutes, balls and receptions, and after taking part in the inauguration of his successor, on 
March 4, he received an ovation of unprecedented fer\'or as he left the hall. In the afternoon of the 
same day he was the guest at a public banquet given in Rickett's Amphitheatre, a large circular 
btiilding at Sixth and Chestnut Streets, in which, as a contemporary record tells us, Richardet, 
the French caterer who had become "master" of the City Tavern, had prepared "a most sumj)- 
tuous entertainment comprising four hundred dishes of the most choice viands which money 
could purchase or art prepare." Other attentions crowded upon General Washington until 
March 9, when he left for Mount W'rnon. 

Virulent as the onslaught of the opposition press had been during Washington's term, it 
had been considerably restrained by the almost unanimous popularity of Washington himself. 
But with John Adams no such restraint was observed. Beginning with his inauguration he was 
attacked with vigor and venom by opposition writers, who dul)bed him "His Rotundity, the 
Duke of Braintree" (referring to his home town in Massachusetts). "His Serene Highness" 
and other such names and continued these assaults throughout his term. 

Citizen Adet, the French minister, in November, 1796, had issued an address to Frenchmen 
resident in the city asking each of them to wear the tricolor French cockade, "the symbol of a 
liberty the fruit of eight years' toil and five years' victories." His advice was followed not 
only by the French, but by the pro-French, anti-Federal element of the city. Its prevalence on 
the streets seemed to call for a distinguishing emblem for the Federalist adherents, who began 
to wear a black cockade as their insignia. Adet was much incensed by the fact that in the 
Philadelphia City Directory of 1796, and in several almanacs, his name followed that of the 
British minister. He demanded of Timothy Pickering, Secretary of State, that the publication 
should be suppressed and their distribution forbidden. Mr. Pickering replied that the United 



THE STORY OP ri 1 1 1.ADELPHIA 1^3 



States would not "attcni])! l)y official arrangcnu'ut voluntarily to settle questions of rank among 
foreign powers." 

Bache's paper, now known as the Aurora, kej)! up its partisan fusillade, but found a 
counter-irritant in the even more puui^^ent work of William Cohhett. an Iui,t,dish political writer 
who had come to the United States in 1792. Cobbett had begun by the publication of j^amphlets 
of the most vindictive type, i)ublished under the nom dc plume of "Peter Porcupine," by 
Thomas Bradford. In March, 1797, Cobbett began the publication of a daily evening paper, 
Peter Porcupine's Gazette, anti-Democratic and anti-French, surpassing even the Aurora in 
vehemence and vindictiveness. He made a iierce attack upon Don Carlos de Yrujo, the Span- 
ish minister, who demanded of the Ctnernmcnt that Cobbett should be prosecuted. As a con- 
sequence Cobbett was arrested and bound over for a])pearance in the Federal Court. This did 
not satisfy De Yrujo, who wished the trial to be in the Sui)reme Court of Pennsylvania, as the 
presiding justice of that court. Thomas McKean, was his intimate friend. At the November 
term judge McKean, in his charge to the Grand Jury, favored the indictment of Cobbett, and 
personally appeared before that body as a witness against the editor. But the (]rand Jury of 
that Court, and that in the Federal Court, ignored the indictment, a result which Cobbett tri- 
umphantly hailed as his vindication. It furthermore furnished a text for severe criticism. 

From August 17 until the 1st of November, 1797, the city was again scourged' by the yel- 
low fever. Many of the United States offices were removed to Trenton, N. J., the President 
went to Braintree, Mass., while the War Office was opened at the Falls of Schuylkill. Sixteen 
of the leading Philadelphia merchants transferred their business to Wilmington, Del. 

When President Adams returned from Massachusetts on November U, he was greeted by 
the Aurora with a sarcastic article on "the triumphal entry of Flis Serene Highness of Brain- 
tree into the City." while a communication, signed "An Old Soldier," had, earlier in the month, 
animadverted on the 1^-esident "reveling and feasting in Boston and New York while our 
unhappy city was the prey of di.sease and death." 

In connection with the hostilities between France and England, French cruisers continually 
seized American vessels. The protests of the American Government received insolent replies 
from the French Directory. The American envoys, John Marshall, Charles Cotesworth Pinck- 
ney, and Elbridge Gerry, had tried in vain to conclude a reasonable treaty. The French 
Directory had urged the Council of Fi\e Hundred to pass a law declaring that all ships having 
English goods on board were good prizes, and closing the ports of France to all ships that, in 
the course of their voyages, had touched at any English port. l*!arly in 1798 John Marshall 
had returned to Philadelphia to announce the failure of the mission and also to tell how the 
wily Talleyrand had sent emissaries to demand of the envoys a bribe of tifty thousand pounds 
for the members of the Directory and a large loan to the Republic in consideration of a satisfac- 
tory treaty, and had received from Pinckney the historic response: "Millions for defense, but 
not one cent for tribute." These things w^ere reported by Marshall to President Adams, who 
laid the situation before Congress on March .^, 179S'. 

These facts caused a great revulsion of the feeling toward I<"rance in Philadelphia and in 
the country at large. It seemed that war was ine\itable, though the Pennsylvania Senate, 
where pro-French sentiment was very strong, adopted resolutions against war, which were tabled 
in the House. In the music of the period "The President's March," which had been composed 
in honor of Washington some time before l)y a German music-teacher, had long been popular 
in Philadelphia. At the request of Gilbert Fox, a local actor, Joseph Hopkinson, then twenty- 
eight years old. agreed to write a patriotic song to fit the tune, and produced "Hail Columbia," 
which Fox sang at his benefit on April 25, 179S. It created a sensation, and soon was being 
sung in the streets. It Ijecame immensely poi)uIar. except to the extremely ])ro-French Demo- 



194 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

crats, who proclaimed it to Ije a "'Federalist song." But the song was a means of calling 
'many to realize the folly of Americans lining themselves up as pro-French or pro-English, 
when it was especially necessary that they should all unitedly be pro- American. 

^rhe division of the people into two hostile camps so impressed President Adams that he 
set apart May 8, 1798, as a day of fasting and prayer for divine guidance. Instead it was a day 
of faction and disorder, so far as Philadelphia was concerned, and several encounters occurred 
between wearers of the tricolor and black cockades. It looked as if the many mob contests of 
Philadelphia were about to culminate in a local and bloody revolution. Order was restored, how- 
ever, by the ])rom]:)t action of Governor Mifflin in calling out militia to disperse the crowds. 

War threatened so forcibly that preparations for it were organized by the General Govern- 
ment, General Washington being designated as Commander-in-Chief with the rank of Lieuten- 
ant-General, and coming to Philadelphia in November', 1798, to perfect his military plans. He 
spent more than a month in organization work, Init on December 14 set out for Mount Vernon, 
convinced that the war crisis had passed. Political rancor continued. Cobbett became more and 
more vitriolic, but being a British subject and excessively pro-British in his deliverances he did 
the Federalists more harm than good by espousing their cause. The Aurora was cjuite as 
belligerent on the other side, and the publications on the one side and the other led to many 
personal assaults. 

Cobbett finally ran afoul of Dr. Benjamin Rush whom he accused of excessive bleeding 
(often as much as five or six times per day. Cobbett said), and excessive use also of mercurial 
purges. He continued it day by day until Dr. Rush had him prosecuted for libel, winning the 
suit with a judgment for $5000 damages. The execution of the judgment ruined Cobbett. and 
he left for New York, publishing there a periodical which he called The Rushlight, in which he 
abused Dr. Rush, Governor McKean, Judge Shippen. who had presided in the libel case, and 
others. He finished the Rushlight in an article in which he consigned all Philadelphians to per- 
dition, and sailed for Europe, issuing, before h.s departure. "Porcupine's Farewell Address to 
the people of the United States," dated May 29, 1800. 

The yellow fever which had been so fatal in 1793 had returned annually, but in 1794. 1795 
and 1796 had seemed much more amenable to treatment. In 1797. however, the visitation was 
with renewed virulence, and the deaths numbered 1292. The sanitary arrangements were 
improved, but were, of course, still cjuite inadequate because of the absolute ignorance then pre- 
vailing as to the origin and real character of the scourge. Following the visitation of 1797, the 
Assembly passed a much more stringent health law. But this turned out to be only a prelude 
to a much more severe visitation. In 1797 the exodus of the people of Philadelphia had begun 
in August, but in 1798 some cases were reported in June. ( )n August 6 the physicians reported 
twenty-six cases. Although in the flight which followed it is estimated that 40.000 of the 65.000 
inhabitants of Philadelphia had participated, there were 3637 deaths before the epidemic was 
checked, a larger percentage of deaths than in any previous e])idemic. Over 1000 died in a 
return of the disease in 1799. 

These visitations of yellow fever not only diminished the population by its direct effects, 
but also acted as a dterrent upon the incoming of new citizens. Philadelphia was. by the testi- 
mony of all who described it. a beautiful place. Rochefoucauld-Liancourt. who visited Philadel- 
phia while Washington was President, described it as "not only the finest city of the United 
States, but one of the most beautiful cities in the world." As the capital of State and Nation 
it had been the center of political interest and gay social life until, at the close of John 
Adams' presidential term, the seat, of government was removed to the new. unfinished federal 
city on the banks of the Potomac. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 195 

News of the dealli of (IciktuI W'ashinglon on I )c-cc'iiil)rr 14, 1799, reached riiiladelphia. 
three days later, in the evening. \\ ln'ii Congress met on the morning of December 18, it imme- 
diately adjourned out of respect to tlie illustrious memory of the eminent soldier, statesman, and 
liberator. The following day John Marshall, of X'irginia, distinguished jurist, made a famous 
address in the House of Representatives and introduced resolutions in which Washington was 
declared by Richard Henry Lee to be "first in war, lirst in peace, and first in the hearts of his 
countrymen." 

Although the Quaker element in I'hiladelphia continued to be an important one and has 
always, to this day represented a most substantial factor in its prosperity, it was no longer a 
ruling force. The remo\al of the National Capitol from New York to l'hilade]])hia led. among 
other things, to a considerable liberalization of the laws with resj)ect to amusements. The ban 
against theatricals was remo\ed in 17S9, a law which had been many times unsuccessfully intro- 
duced at former sessions being enacted th;it year, and the Southwark Theatre opening January 6, 
1790. under the management of Lewis Hallam md John Henry. It became a famous establish- 
ment to which leading citizens and visitors went to see performed many of the fmest classics of 
English drama. Other amusements also attracted interest, notably the circus, conducted along 
lines of which the programs of more recent circus performances are merely an elalxjration. ^fhe 
first was o])ened by a man named Pool in 1785, followed by John Bill Ricketts. a Scotch eques- 
trian of originality and daring, who erected a circus building in 1793 at Twelfth and Market 
Streets. Meeting great success there, he buil: an amphitheatre at Sixth and Chestnut Streets, 
opposite Congress Hall^ a circular building, nineiy seven feet in diameter. Ricketts and other 
highly expert equestrian performers, tight-rope dancers and pantomimists made a very popular 
performance, both in the ring and on the stage until December 17. 1799. when fire broke out 
from some scenery in a loft where a drunken carpenter had gone with a lighted candle. The 
audience got out of the building without injury, but the building was destroyed, and Ricketts, 
disheartened Ijy his heavy loss, went to England. For a year. April. 1797. to June, 179S. he had 
a rival in a still more elaborate circus, conducted by Lailson, a French equestrian. The expense 
of that show was too great for the receipts, and it failed. Pyrotechnic displays were also a 
popular amusement, and in 1783-1784. M. Blanchard. a French aeronaut, thrilled the town with 
his deeds of daring. Pleasure gardens, of which Gray's Gardens, just across Gray's Ferry, fitted 
up into an elaborate park by Samuel \'aughan, was the most popular, were a much-a])preciated 
amusement feature in Philadelphia during the last decade of the Eighteenth Century. 

Changes in the charter of Philadelphia were made in 1796. when the council was divided 
into two chambers, one the Select Council, of twelve citizens elected for three years, and the 
Common Council of twenty-four meml)ers, clKr^en at annual elections. The recorder and fifteen 
aldermen were appointed by the governor for life, their functions being exclusively judicial. 
The mayor was chosen from the list of alderm-n. for a one-year term, by vote of the councils. 

The removal of the State Capitol from Philadeli)hia had been agitated almost from the 
time of the adoption of the Federal Constitution. In the House of Rejn'esentatixes the sentiment 
for removal usually had a majority, but the Senate on several occasions voted down resolutions 
that had passed the House for removal of the capitol to Lancaster or to Chester. Many objec- 
tions were urged against Phila(lel])hia, but tho^e of the western counties, founded u])on the 
inconvenience of tra\el a])i)lied, almost in equal degree, to Chester, which had been advocated 
by many. Finally, in 1798, a resolution passed the House to rembve the capitol to Wright's 
Ferry on the Susquehanna River, after a motion to strike out "Wright's Ferry" and insert "Har- 
risburg" had been defeated by a vote of 29 to 43. The Senate changed the bill to read "Har- 
risburg" as the House minority had desired, but the House refused to concur. The question 
came up in the Assembly in 1799', those desirous of removal agreeing upon the aj)i)ointment of a 



196 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



committee to select a site somewhere near the center of population of the State, and urging 
the frequent epidemics of yellow fever in Philadelphia as a reason for removal. The choice 
fell on Lancaster, where the Legislature met for the tirst time on December 3, 1799. 

Although Cobbett had gone to England and Benjamin Franklin Bache had died of yellow 
fever in 1798, the political cauldron seethed as hotly and Philadelphia journalism was as vitu- 
perative as ever. John Fenno, of the Gazette of the United States, who, after Cobbett's abdi- 
cation, was the strongest opponent of the assaults of Bache, continued the most stalwart ex- 
ponent of Federalism until he, like Bache, died in the epidemic of 1798. On the Democratic 
side Bache had as successor William Duane, who had been on the Aurora from 1795, and 
became head of the paper after the death of his chief, whose widow he married, thus obtaining 
ownership of the paper. He wielded a biting and abusive pen, and was the strongest supporter 
of Jefferson, and the most vicious critic of John Adams. For the Federalists, after Fenno's 
death, the ablest and most pungent writer was Joseph Dennie, editor of the Port Folio. That 
publication was notable for its high literary quality, and also for the power and skill with which 
Dennie held up to scorn the ultra-radicals who lauded the hideous, lawless and bloody French 




Centre Square Water Works 

Revolution and its results as a pattern for American imitation. Efifective, brilliant, and scholarly, 
Dennie became the center of a gifted literary coterie, which he organized as the Tuesday Club. 
That club earned the encomiums of Thomas Moore as having given him the most agreeable 
moments of his tour through "the States" in 1804, and he especially lauded Mr. Dennie and his 
"elegant little circle," devoted to ''good literature and sound politics." 

But the Federal party, so far as the control of national affairs was concerned, went out of 
existence with the close of John Adams' term on March 4, 1801. 14ie "Alien and Sedition 
Laws" of the Adams administration were very unpo])ular, and the agitation against them was 
the leading factor in the party's defeat in the election of 1800. But the party served a useful 
purpose in the emphasis it laid on National unity, and in combating the attempt to mold our 
American system on the pattern of French Revjlutionary disorder. 

The anti-Federalist party had been called "Republican" by its friends and "Democratic" 
by those who spoke of it in derision. But toward the last the more stalwart memljers of the 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Rei)ul)Iic;in parly got to liking tlie name Democrat. TIk' parly Ijccame very strong and in citv 
and State politics split into factions. Thomas McKean had been re-elected governor in 1S02, 
and though he was an able man and a good governor he had a Ijad temper, which made him 
enemies. Some of the city leaders tried to beat him in ISO.S ])y sujiporting Simon Snyder, who 
lived in ihe ])ack country. McKean won easily in that year, l)ul wilh the same candidates Snyder 
was the victor in 180S. A newsjjaper founded ])y John Bimis, an Irish journalist, in support 
of Snyder, was called the Democratic Press, the lirst paper to use the word "Democratic" in 
its title. But it soon came to be tlie regularly accepted name of the party, first in. Iiyphenaled 
form— "Republican-Democratic," and later as the Democratic party, which it still holds, while its 
original name. "lve]ni])lican." has l)een adopted by its opponents. 

Jefifcrson was elected President after a cami)aign whicli. in 1 'hiladelpliia at least, was very 
hot and acrimonious, but while politics bulked very large in the discussions of those days, other 
things went forward too. llie (iermantown and Perkiomen Turnj)ike Company was incorpo- 
rated on February 12. 1801. with Pjenjamin Chew as president and John Johnson, treasurer. 
The road was badly needed, as the road to Germantown, as it then existed, had been stigmatized 
as "the worst road in the United States." It was. in fact, so bad that much of the traffic went 
across the open fields or around by way of Frankford to avoid the ])Ogs and ruts of the (ier- 
mantown road. In 1901, too, Philadelphia became associated with the canal building activities 
which reflected most the progress of. that period, The Delaware and Chesapeake Canal Company 
was incorporated on February 19 of that year, but was not fully organized until May, 1803. 

Idle Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce was organized in 1801. The admission fee was 
fixed at $8.00. and the annual dues at $5.00, Thomas Fitzsimons was the first jiresident of the 
Chamber, which held its meetings at the City Tavern. 

A young men's social clul), which was formed in 1799. became imjjressed with llie need of 
educational facilities for poor children, so in the following winter they organized "The Phila- 
delphia Society for the Free Instruction of Indigent Boys." With nine mem])ers. the societv 
opened a night school in which they taught from twenty to thirty pupils. The income of the 
first season was $16.37, and the exi)ense only $9.27, the equipment and instruction being pro- 
vided gratis by the members of the society. At the close of that season others ofifered aid to 
the project, and in June, 1801. Christopher Ludwick died in Philadelphia, leaving a will which 
provided for a bequest of $8000 to be paid to "the first association incor})orated to teach poor 
children gratis." The Philadelphia Society for Free Instruction succeeded in putting through 
its incorporation first, although the University of Pennsylvania tried to beat it by organizing a 
Free School Corporation of its own. The society, incorporated in 1801. had eighteen prominent 
Philadelphians as its Board of Managers, and secured not only the Ludwick ])equest but also 
other gifts including $4000 left them in 1803 by Chambers Wharton. The schoolhouse of the 
society was back of the Second Presbyterian Church, and afterward they were given a lot in 
Kensington by John Dickinson. 

Philadeli)hia merchants suffered greatly in the last decade of the Fighteenth Century and 
the first decade of the Nineteenth, because of the seizure of ships and cargoes bound from 
Philadelphia to the West Indies, by French war vessels. The merchants prepared, in January, 
1802. a memorial, presenting their grievances to Congress, and signed by forty leading Phila- 
delphia firms. The memorial claimed that their losses aggregated two million dollars. 

The Tammany Society was an important institution in Philadel])hia in those days. It had 
organized at the house of James Byrnes, May 1. 1772, originally as a social club or society. 
Tammany, chief of the Lenapes in the days of Penn, had been head of the council of the Indian 
tribes that made the various friendly treaties and agreements with the Quaker settlers and made 
Pennsyhania the exemplar of friendship between the reds and the whites. After the Revolu- 



,98 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



turn it became a patriotic society, and when the trouble over the Cienet ati'air and the Jay treaty 
tore things asunder, it became a partisan organization, wore the tricolor cockade, sang "Ca Ira," 
and in the election of 1800 was strongly Democratic. It celebrated Inauguration Day in ISOO with 
great zest, and afterward for several' years held days of jul)ilation on the Fourth of July and 
other holidays. But it never became a power in politics, such as its New York imitator became, 
and finally disappeared from view. It was one of the many societies which participated in the 
celebration of May 12, 1804. over the acquisition of Louisiana. The others included "The True 
Republican SocietV." the Society of the Cin:innati. the Democratic Republican Benevolent 
Society. St. Patrick's, Union, Provident, Friendly, and X'ictuallers' Societies, as well as an out- 
pouring of the military. Shee's Legion, four troops of horse, four companies of artillery, five 
rifle companies, and fourteen light infantry companies. Captain Powell's artillery fired seven- 
teen guns at dayl)reak in Centre Square, and the bells of Christ Church were rung. 

Idle estaljlishing of a regular stage line from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh was an important 
event of 1804. Except on rare occasions, chiefly political, when special stages and relays of 
horses had been used, the trip had been a most tedious one, either on horseback or in specially 
hired farm wagons. The new stage line made weekly trips, leaving Friday morning from John 
Tomlinson's hotel, in Market Street, and it was guaranteed that the journey should not exceed 
seven days. The fare, which was $20 per passenger, allowed for twenty pounds of baggage and 
a charge of $12 per hundred for excess baggage. A traveler who made the trip said that the cost 
of meals was "eight dollars and twenty cents per passenger, at good country inns." After the 
Louisiana Purchase was concluded this became the route of travel from the Eastern Seaboard 
to New Orleans, which city could be reached by boat from Pittsburgh in from twenty to twenty- 
five days, or an average of about a calendar month from Philadelphia to New Orleans. 

L:arlY in the Nineteenth Century there was much interest exhibited in the matter of estab- 
lishing and enlarging manufacturing industries. In February, 1803, the Pennsylvania Society 
for the Encouragement of Useful Arts and Manufactures which had not been active for several 
years, was reorganized and undertook a program of propaganda of progress in industry which has 
continued to be a marked characteristic of the business communty of Philadelphia. It was 
incorporated under the legislative charter in March. 1803, with Dr. Benjamin Rush, president; 
and Tench Coxe, John Kagan, Dr. Caspar Wistar, and Anthony Morris as vice-presidents. Sam- 
uel Wetherill, famous as a public-spirited Philadelphian, was made chairman of the Manufac- 
turing Committee of the Society, a position which he most zealously filled. 

An important improvement in the firefighting facilities of Philadelphia resulted from the 
organization on December 15, 1803', of the Philadelphia Hose Company. The meeting was 
incited by a disastrous fire on Sansom Street, near Eighth Street, which had occurred two days 
before. The water for the hand engines was poured into them after being passed in buckets 
along lines of men. The suggestion that hose might be attached to the hydrants and make the 
work of firefighting more speedy and effective found a response in the formation of its hose 
company. It did such good work on a fire which occurred on March 3, 1804, that two more 
hose companies were formed. 

Charges against Judges Shippen, Yeats and Smith of the Supreme Court, growing out of 
alleged oppression and illegal imprisonment by way of punishment for contempt of court, were 
laid before the Legislature on February 28, 1803. The Legislature, while passing resolutions 
denunciatory of summary proceedings of contempt, declared adjournment to be too near to give 
the matter proper attention, and so postponed further proceedings until the meeting of the next 
Legislature. In 1804, therefore, impeachment proceedings against the three judges came up. 
The State Senate voted on the proposed impeachment : "guilty," 13; "not guilty," 11. So the 



THll STORY OF I'l 1 1 L.IDELPIII A 



199 



judges failed of inipeaehmeut, liccause the vote against tliein was not a two-thirds vote as 
re(|nired l)y the State Constitution. 

Following the jay treaty of 1795 there had heen a remarkal)le inerease of the shipping 
interest of the United States, and Philadelphia had established a large merchant marine which 
did a hea\y business in trade to Europe, China, India, the West Indies, Charleston and New 
( )rleans to which pcjints they made regular sailings, besides others open for charters to any 
desired port. Twenty-live first-class and sixty-three second-class vessels are enumerated as 
engaged in regular foreign voyages, all full rigged shijjs and barques of from two hundred to 
five hundred tons, besides many brigs and schooners, all cnvned in the port of Philadelphia. The 
tonnage was 103.663 tons in ISOO and about 10,000 tons more in 1805. The arrivals from for- 
eign jiorts in 1S05 were 547; clearance, 617; coasters arrived, 1169; cleared, 1231; total, 3564. 

At the beginning of the Nineteenth Century Philadelphia was the second city in the coun- 




INTKKIOR iNDHPKMJi'.NCli IIaLI, 



try, with 2^,522 inhabitants against 60,515 in Xew \'ork and 2A})?)7 in lioston. but it was a 
clo.se rival of Xew York in commerce, and remained the monetary center of the countrv until the 
expiration of the charter of the Bank of the P^nited States in 1836. The shijjping interest w-as 
unfavorably aft'ected by the French assaults ui)on sea commerce, and toward the end of the year 
was further endangered by prospects of a war with Spain. That war was averted, but the Eng- 
lish, as well as the French, took to harassing the ships of the United States merchant marine. 
Before these troubles the carrying trade of the merchant fleets of America had so increa.sed as 
to come near taking the dominion of the seas from England. Rut the attacks on the neutral 



200 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



rights of the United States by both belHgerents in the Franco-British wars of the Napoleonic 
period, with the embargo dccLared by Jefferson in 1807, brought great prostration to the shipping 

interest. 

Meanwhile the endeavor to build up manufacturing interests in Philadelphia had met with 
much success. In 1801 one of the first steam engines put to practical use for manufacturing was 
built by Oliver Evans. In 1803 a beginning had been made in textile industries, there being then 
three calico-printing establishments in the suburbs of the city— those of Hewson at Germantown, 
Stewart at Germantown, and Thorburn at Darby, the three turning out 200,000 yards in 1803, and 
employing seventy persons. The Hewson establishment at Germantown, which was established 
by John ''Hewson, who had been a Revolutionary soldier, in 1789, was the first calico printing 
enterprise in the United States. Mrs. Washington had dresses made of fabrics printed in this 
establishment, and George Washington took frequent pleasure in pointing out that his wife's 
dresses were of calicoes printed by "Comrade Hewson." 

Samuel Wetherill was one of the most zealous promoters of manufactures in those pioneer 
days. He established in Philadelphia, ^n 1787, the first manufactory of white lead in America, 
and five years before that had advertised himself in the I'ennsylvania Gazette of April 3, 1782, as 
a manufacturer of "jeans, fustians, everlastings, and coatings," this being, probably, the first 
establishment in America to produce these goods on a commercial scale. John Harrison, who 
was the most notable of the early chemical manufacturers of the United States, began in 1793 
the manufacture of sulphuric acid, and in 1804 he enlarged his production by adding the various 
chemical preparations of mercury, antimony, copper, etc., used in the arts and as medicines, and 
in 1806 he added white lead to his products. He afterward followed with many other chemicals. 
The Wetherill and Harrison white lead industries are continued to this day by the descendants 
f their founders. About 1803 a Mr. Ettonhead had begun the manufacture of cotton machinery 
arding engines, drawing and roving frames, mules and spindles, starting a branch of indus- 
try in which Philadelphia has continued to lead. 

In January, 1806, a new society was organized, called the Philadelphia Society for the 
Encouragement of Domestic Manufactures, with Stephen Girard as its first president. In that 
year, too, the first enterprise to engage in the manufacture of flannels in Philadelphia was estab- 
lished. 

Facilities for travel to New York were greatly enhanced by the opening, on February 1, 
1806, of the bridge over the Delaware at Trenton, a notable structure built by Theodore Burr. 
Before it was constructed the passengers from Philadelphia to New York went by boat to Bur- 
lington or Trenton. New Jersey, and thence by stage to New York. But with this new bridge 
the stages ran through, and there were four fines each day. The "Diligence" leaving at 8 A. M., 
and the "Industry" at 9 A. M., charged $5.50 per passenger. The "Mail Pilot," which left at 
10 A. M., charged $8.00. and the "Mail" leaving at noon, charged $8.50 per passenger, but these 
carried only six ])assengers each. The route laid over turnpike roads all the way, and tolls were 
high, costing each stage $5.50 per trip. The roads were kept in good condition, however. The 
same could not be said of the road to Baltimore, which was very much neglected, and there was 
an agitation for turnpikes on that route. The passenger route was by boat to New Castle, then 
by stage across the Peninsula to Court House Point on the Chesapeake, whence the journey was 
finished by packet-boat to Baltimore. 

In 1807 the grievances against England came to a climax when, on June 28, intelligence of 
the Chesapeake outrage reached Philadelphia. The British man-of-war Leopard, supported by 
the frigate Melampus and the seventy-four Bellona, fired into the ChesaDeake, June 23, outside 
the Virginia Capes, killed four of her crew and wounded eighteen, and seized three men who 
were claimed as deserters. The outrage aroused Philadelphia to a white heat, and a meeting 



o 
— c 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



2(11 



held in the State House yard July 1, presided over by Matthew Lawler as president and with 
Joseph Jlopkinsou as secretary, pledged support to the government and resolved that the citi- 
zens of rhiladelphia would "discountenance all intercourse with the vessels of war belonging 
to Great Britain, and would withhold from them all supplies or assistance that might be neces- 
sary to their aid and subsistence." The next day the Philadelphia Militia League offered its 
services to the government, and they were accepted. The legion numbered 816 men. and recruit- 
ing was inaugurated. Several volunteer organiz:i tions were formed. Of the 100,000 militia 
called for by I'resident Jefferson Pennsylvania's quota was 15,600, of which Philadelphia city 
and county were required to su{)ply (S8 artillery, 177 cavalry, and 1550 infanlrv. In December, 
1807, there was a parade in which the First F>rigade had 2000 uniformed men in line, and the 
County Brigade 3000. 

Politics seethed in Philadelphia, but had more to do with State than in city politics, the 
contention being between two wings of the Demtjcratic Party, one headed by Governor McKean 
which was aided by the remnant of the Federalist Party, and the other headed by Dr. Michael 
Leib who had served several terms in Congress, but had declined renominatian and had returned 
to the State Legislature. He and William Duane. editor of the Aurora, had charged Governor 
McKean with nepotism, corruption and favoritism and had built up a strong position with the 
party. Thomas McKean. Jr.. son of the Governor, who was Secretarv of the Commonwealth. 




ft I II n inrV 
■ mil iiiiK 







GiRARD College Yard, Looking East 



had challenged Dr. Leib who had accepted the challenge, but the younger McKean and his 
second. Major Dennis, were indicted. Duane w^as constantly attacked by libel suits, but they did 
not cause him to moderate his attacks. 

The passage of the non-importation act was the great event of 1807. and the passage of 
the embargo brought a depression in foreign trade and a stagnation in shipping. The British 
Orders in Council and the Milan decrees of Nai)oleon darkened the prospect and 1808 opened 
with scenes of distress. The sailors in Philadelphia were without occupation and on January 
16, 1808, marched in procession to the City Hall. Robert Wharton, the mayor, told them that 
their marching with the flag constituted an unlawful asscml)ly, but after they had furled their 



202 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



flag he expressed his synii)athy with them, teUing them that the government had thought an 
embargo necessary and advising them to disperse peaceably. 

The Chamber of Commerce took up the matter and took up subscriptions from the mer- 
chants of the city for immediate rehef of the sailors. An effort made to secure from the Legis- 
lature an appropriation of $5000 for the purpose failed. They were taken care of by private 
suljscriptions until April, but the subscriptions ceased then. Times were very hard, and even 
those who were possessed of a considerable amount of property had very little money. ^ The 
sailors scattered to various places, quite a large number of them going to Halifax, Nova Scotia, 
where they joined the British service. 

The Bayonne decree of Napoleon, issued in March. 1808, directed the seizure of every 
American vessel because, it said, "none could lawfully Ijc abroad since the passage of the 
Embargo Act." Both the British and French governments w^ere antagonistic and there was a 
strong "opposition to the embargo i^olicy at home. This was chiefly in New England, for in the 
other'' States the majority opinion was that the alternative was embargo or war, and that the 
country was not i)rei)ared for war. 

Many distresses came with the embargo, but there were some valuable compensations. 
Domestic' manufactures sprung up to supply the place of importations no longer available. Two 
shot-towers of large capacity were built in Philadelphia ; red-lead and litharge were added to the 
list of the city's manufactures. xNumerous houses were erected in the city. The Philadelphia 
Manufacturing Society was organized with a capital of $50,000 in 1000' shares. Its managing 
and subscription committee was composed of Israel Israel, Elisha Gordon, Tench Coxe, Matthew 
Carey, William Y. Birch, A. Philson, David Jackson. Samuel Wetherill, Jr., and Joseph Jones, 
wdio, in April, issued an address announcing their intention to use water-power and erect build- 
ings and machinery for making cotton, woolen and linen cloths and other goods. In July, 1808, 
a "Premium Society" offered premiums in money for various textile and other products of domes- 
tic manufacture which would take the place of goods heretofore manufactured abroad. Few 
entered the competitions suggested, l)Ut Colonel David Humphrey, of Connecticut, received an 
award for the first piece of broadcloth ; the managers of the Almshouse and of the House of 
Employment in Philadelphia received premiums for the first thread- or sewing-mill set up. the 
Almshouse managers also obtaining an award for cotton sheeting; and other premiums were given 
to Daniel McGinnis for cotton shirting, and to Stoddart & Gilbert, of Connecticut, for cotton 
cloth. The great improvement in manufacturing in Philadelphia was celebrated by manufactur- 
ers and mechanics on November 17, by a dinner, given in the rooms formerly occupied by the 
United States Senate, at Sixth and Chestnut Streets. John Dorsey. who presided, was dressed 
in a suit of American broadcloth made from merino wool. 

In the State election of 1808 Simon Snyder, who headed the Democratic ticket, was elected 
Governor by an overwhelming majority, and Dr. Leib. who was reelected to the Legislature, was 
chosen United States Senator. James Madison, of Virginia, was elected President, and George 
Clinton, of New York, Vice-President in the same election. There was a considerable agitation 
for military ])reparedness during 1808, and drills and sham l)attles were the means employed for 
the training of the volunteer forces. The political breach between the Democrats and Federal- 
ists in regard to the embargo Ijecame wider. The irksomeness of the embargo brought al)out a 
spirit of impatience with many who had approved it and on March 1. 1909, three days before the 
inauguration of Madison, the New York and New England Democrats, who had been under 
great pressure from their constituents, joined the Federalists in Congress in enacting a repeal of 
the Embargo Act and passing a non-intercourse act that ai)i)lied only to England and France 
and excluded English and French ships of w:ir from the ports and territorial waters of the 
United States. 



THE STORY OT TiULADELPHlA 



2(1 



President Madison, on April 19, 1809, issued a jjroclanialion slating that the Ihitsh min- 
ister. Mr. Erskine (son of the famous Lord Chancellor) had received news tliat the British 
( )rders in Council of 1807 would he withdrawn hy June 10. after which trade with (jreat Brit- 
ain would he renewed. This announcenu'nt had the efiect of drawing great jjraise of the 
President from the h\'deralists, who had previously had nothing hut denunciation for him. 
But the rejoicing turned out to he premature, and Mr. J'^rskine was forced to tell the President 
(Ml July 31, with expressions of ])ersonal mortihcation, that the arrangement had fallen through, 
and President Madison issued a proclamation, August 9, declaring the non-intercourse act in full 
force as regarded Creat Britain. Mr. Erskine, who was personally in high esteem with the 
Administration and friendly to .America (his wife was a daughter of (General John Cadwalader 
of Philadelphia), was recalled, and Erancis James Jackson was sent as the new British minister 
to Washington. His conduct was contentious, insolent and overhearing, and he was soon told 
that no communications would be received from him . The l-iritish Government was notified that 
Jackson was persona iioii grata, and his recall was requested. Things went from had to worse in 
1810. both Erench and English j^rovocations continued, but the most flagrant \iolations were 
those of English impressment of sailors, the total number being j)laced as high as 6700 by the 
United States Department of State, while Lord Castlereagh admitted in the British Parliament 
that 1600 had been impressed. It was felt tha: war could scarcely be avoided and the military 
organizations of Philadelphia kept up steady drill and practice. There were times when reports 
came from Pinckney, American minister to Britain, giving encouragement to the idea of a peace- 
ful settlement, but British stubbornness intervened and wdien Madison was nominated for reelec- 
tion by the Congressional caucus on May 18, 1812, it was realized that war w^as inevitable, and 
the actual Declaration of War came on June 18, 1812. 

Local events during the period when these international troubles were brewing included the 
completion of the '"chain bridge" over the Schuylkill early in 1809. and numerous improvements 
in roads, building operations ; and the increase of manufacture. But the prosj^ect of war o\-er- 
shadowed everything. Drilling was kept ttp in Philadelphia, and the city was enthusiastically 
loyal to the government, but in spite of all that was done and everything that was intended, 
neither the city nor State, nor the countrv at large was pro])erlv j)re])areil for the hostilities 
that were so soon to come upon them. ; 




Thk University Buildings on Ninth .Strekt, i^2u 



C H A P T E R 



SIX TEEN 



PHILADELPHIA DURING THE SECOND WAR WITH 
BRITAIN AND THE QUARTER CENTURY 
FOLLOWING-1812 TO 1840 



The United States did not go into the War of 1812 with the sympathy of all the American 
people behind it. The majority favored the war, but there was a considerable number in 
opi)Osition, the division being very largely along party lines. The Republican-Democrats favored 
tlie war. but the Federalists were against it. There had been a large Irish immigration to the 

United States during the 
first years of the cen- 
tury, and these new citi- 
zens had a considerable 
part in accentuating the 
anti-English feeling of a 
large share of the peo- 
l)le. At Washington, 
Henry Clay, Speaker of 
the House of Represen- 
tatives, (lid not content 
himself with his duties 
as Speaker, Imt took a 
leading part in debate 
on all important occa- 
sions. He ]:)laced him- 
self at the head of the 
War party in Congress 
which advocated the 
calling out of volunteers 
to serve on land and the 
construction of an effi- 
cient navy. Clay looked 
for a conquest of Can- 
ada and a peace dictated at Quebec as the result of a victorious war. A majority of Congress 
including such leaders as John C. Calhoun, William Lowndes, Felix Grundy, and Langdon 
Cheves, backed up the masterful Kentuckian, and conquered the hesitation of the Madison 
administration and led it into the war against England in June, 1812. The city of Philadelphia, 
although in anticipation of eventual war with England, or France, or both, there had been con- 
tinual drilling of various militia organizations, was ill prepared for the conflict. The nation, as 
a whole, was even worse prepared. Colonel Winfield Scott was sent to Philadelphia to raise a 
regiment for the regular army, establishing a camp for that purpose west of the Schuylkill River, 
near the Upper Ferry, and having .secured his men, led the regiment to Canada. Sailors, who had 
suffered greatly by the embargo, found lucrative service on the numerous privateers fitted out by 
the merchants and sea captains of Philadelphia. David MofTat was the leading merchant in this 




Market Street, from Ninth Street, 1S20 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



205 



group, his privateer shi]) Ratllesnake and other vessels scouring the i^)ritish coasts and captur- 
ing many merchant sliijjs wliicli were brouglit back as prizes to Philadelphia. 

In early operations the British had the best of it in the operations on land, but the Ameri- 
cans had the better success on the sea. Bainbridge, with his man-of-war Constitution captured 
the Java on December 30. 1812\ and the Hornet defeated and sank the Peacock on February 24, 
1813. In the spring of 1813 a very effective blockade of the mouth of the Delaware was estab- 
lished by a British squadron under command of Sir John P. Beresford, whose ships destroyed 
or captured numerous small craft and committed depredations on both sides of the Delaware. A 
demand was made on March 16. 1813, on the inhabitants of Lewes, Delaware, for twenty live 
bullocks "with a proi)ortionate amount of vegetables and hay," for which he would pay reason- 
able prices, but threatened to destroy the town if his demand was not satisfied. The demand met 
with instant defiance, and the news of it was communicated to the- people of Philadelphia and 
contiguous parts of Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey. Detachments of militia from the 
three States poured into Lewes, the specie in the banks of that place. New Castle and Wilmington 
was removed to Philadelphia, and batteries were erected at New Castle and Wilmington. The 
British started a bombardment of Lewes on April 6, and kept it up for twenty-two hours, but 
did little damage, and did not land any forces from the enemy fleet. 




Gray's Fkrry, on the Schuylkii,l 



Meanwhile there was a good deal of nervousness at Philadelphia, which was practically 
unprotected. Colonel Izard and Lieutenant-Colonel Winfield Scott had taken the bulk of the 
Fort Mifflin troops wnth them to fight in Canada and the West. There were, in fact only four- 
teen invalided soldiers in the fort. Prompt work was taken up in the organization of new mili- 
tary units. A "Junior Artillerists' Company" was formed out of the meml)ership of the Young 
Men's Democratic Association, with about eighty officers and men who were given muskets, and, 
after inspection were mustered into temporary service. On March 23, 1813, with Jacob Fitler as 
ca])tain they, with Cajitain \\'illiam Mitchell's company of Independent Blues, were sent to Fort 
Mifflin, wdiere they served under Captain James S. Barker, U. S. A., until they were relieved on 
April 7, 1813, by United States troops, and were honorably discharged. Other companies were 
organized, including two companies of Washington Cuards (from the membershi]) of the Wash- 



206 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



ington Association )of which companies Captain Condy Raquet commanded the First and Captain 
John Swift the Second Company. On May 26 a company caUed the "State Fencibles" was 
organized, of which Clement C. Biddle was chosen captain. 

The City Councils did nothing for several months in aid of defense. The Common Council, 
which was Democratic in political control, attempted to pass measures of defense, being in har- 
mony with the war, but the Select Council, which had a Federalist majority opposed to the war, 
prevented action by failing to gather a ciuorum, so that the efifort of the Common Council to 
secure immediate defensive action was thwarted for several weeks. The Common Council had 
passed a resolution for a joint committee of three members from each Council to take such steps 
as were necessary for the better security of the port, naming its own members, but the Select 
Councils' failure to have a quorum blocked the plan. The Common Council and a large part of 
the city were impatient over the conduct of the Council, and an association for the protection of 
the harbor and ports of the River Delaware, with Richard Willing as chairman and John Sar- 
gent as secretary, was organized at a meeting in which the conduct of the absentee majority of 
the Select Council was roundly denounced. A call from the mayor, however, resulted in a Coun- 
cil meeting on April 2, at which a joint committee was appointed. 

Meanwhile the British fleet committed many depredations on the shipping in the lower Dela- 
ware, and on the nearby coasts, burned and sacked Frenchtown and Havre de Grace on the 
Chesapeake, and later burned Georgetown and Fredricktown. on the Sassafras River. Admiral 
Cockburn's fleet did great damage all along the coast, destroying all shipping that came within 
range. Up the Delaware the British depredations extended as far as Reedy Island. The unpop- 
ularity of the war with the Federalist minority of the people is illustrated by a toast given at a 
dinner on July 5, 1813, at the Lebanon Garden, Tenth and Cedar Streets, at which there were 
800 diners: "The War — begun without just cause, conducted without energy — may it end with- 
out disgrace." But by the Ijeginning of 1814 open opposition to the war ceased. Some of the 




Rapid Transit— Philadelphia to Lancaster and Pittsburgh 



Federalist outgivings of the previous year had made them the target of ridicule and dislike. A 
considerable number of the Federalists did not share the anti-war views which many of their 
leaders had expressed. The national government had become more vigorous in its prosecution of 
the war. and the patriotic spirit of the country responded. 

At the patriotic services and cele]:)rations of that year the Czar Alexander of Russia and 
the King of Sweden were lauded in toast and resnlution, and Blucher, Kutusofif, Schwartzenberg, 
Wittbenstein, PlatolY. Bulow, De Yorck, and others of the Continental soldiers who were fighting 
against Napoleon were also the subject of eulogy. Wellington's part in the defeat of Napoleon 



THE STORY OF ril 1 LADTLPHL-i 



207 



was not exploited puljlicly, hul did not lack admirers in ])ri\ate speech. Bnt we were at war with 
Britain, and it had to he seen through. 

At that time (ireat Britain had laws similar to those that still pre\ail in ital\- that nati\'e- 
horn suhjects could never renounce their allet^iance. and in pursuance of that theor\- a numher 
of naturalized citizens of the United States who had heen horn British sul)jects, were hein^,^ 
treated as traitors l)y the British authorities. The T^ennsylvania Lej^islature, on January 18, 1814, 
])assed resolutions in favor of the i)()licy, on the part of the National (jovernment of securing 
hostage for those who were thus threatened with trial and execution by Great Britain. In March 
twenty-three British prisoners, including Major de X'allette and other officers were brought to 
the Arch Street prison to be confined as such hostages. In March also eighteen of them esca])ed 
l)y sawing off the iron bars of the windows. Rewards were offered for their recaptm-e, anri some 
were brought back while the others made good their escajjc. 

Privateering was resumed. The Young Wasp, Ca]jtain Hawley, made some captures in 
March, 1814, Init being chased Ijy a British frigate ran one of its boats on the shore, where it 
was set on fire by the British frigate's boats. The Young W'asj) itself eluded the frijjate bv its 

faster sailing, and continued its cruise seven 
months, crqjturing seven prizes and returning 
safely to Philadelphia. 'Jhe Rattlesnake, Captain 
Maffett. was another Philadelphia privateer. It 
was chased by two seventy-fours and two brigs, 
but outsailed them and escaped. 

Philadelphia became active in the building 
of war \essels. Adam and X'oah Brown 
launched a slooi)-of-war on March 23, 1814, and 
that same month there w-ere on the stocks in the 
Delaware two ships-of-war of seventy-four and 
forty-four guns, eighteen gunboats, six barges, 
two blockade sloops, and a schooner. The 
seventy-four was the Franklin, and the forty- four 
was the ( iuerriere which was launched May 20 
from the shipyard of James and Francis Grice. 
at Mount Pleasant. For the defense of the Dela- 
ware there was a flotilla including nineteen .gun- 
boats, six barges and two block sloops. Some 
British vessels which came into the bay in ATarch 
soon left, and the frigate Belvidera, which sailed 
rnder false colors for several miles up the bay, 
made a hasty exit when the gunboat flotilla 
appeared. 

Under a re\ised militia law passed in March, 
1814, the State was divided into sixteen divis- 
ions, each of two brigades. The city of Philadelphia comprised the First brigade, and the county 
the Second. The State cockade was blue and red. X'olunteer companies were permitted to 
choose their own uniforms, and there was a provision in the Act for drafting troops when they 
were needed by the State or National Government. 

Four British barges, which attacked Elkton, Maryland, on July 11, were driven ofT by the 
militia, but a report reached Philadelphia that the British had landed. This led to a rapid and 

enthusiastic mobilization of the city's land and marine forces, including several new companies 




208 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



of volunteers, hastily organized. But the marines going forward to Elkton found no trace of 
the enemy returned with the news to Philadelphia, and the first excitement passed away. It had 
been a good lesson in preparedness, however, and the recruiting of new companies went steadily 
on. On the 3d of August a salute was fired at Potters' Field by the First Artillery Regiment, 
Col. John Hare Powel, in honor of General Brown's victory over the British Army in Canada. 
A committee appointed by the City Councils on June 9 to correspond with the State and United 
States authorities in regard to measures of defense to be adopted for the Delaware River and 
Bay were still deliberating when, on August 25 the community was brought up standing and 
aroused to feverish activity by startling news. 

Washington had fallen before a British assault. It was thought probable that the British 
under General Ross would march to the assault of Baltimore and Philadelphia. Next morn- 
ing a great town meeting assembled in the State House yard. Ex-Governor Thomas McKean, 
then 80 years old, presided, and Joseph Reed, who was city recorder for many years, was secre- 




Watering Place — Atlantic Citv, i8oi 

tarv. The resolutions were aggressive and positive and a strong committee with the broadest 
])Owers was selected to organize troops, secure equipment, provisions, and munitions, raise and 
spend funds, secure volunteers, enforce the draft, care for the families of those called to arms 
and generally to exercise ]:)lenary powers. The committee was thoroughly representative, includ- 
ing Charles Biddle, Thomas Leiper, Gen. Thomas Cadwalader, Gen. John Steel, George Latimer, 
John Barker, Henry Hawkins, Liberty Browne, Charles Ross, Manuel Eyre. John Connelly, 
Condy Raguet, William McFadden, John Sargent. John Geyer (Mayor), and Joseph Reed, of 
the city of Philadelphia ; Col. Jonathan Williams, John Goodman, Daniel Groves, John Bar- 
clay, John Naglee. Thomas Snyder, J. W. Morris, and General Michael Leib, of the Northern 
Liberties and Penn township ; James Josiah, Robert McMullin, John Thompson, Ebenezer Fer- 
guson, James Ronaldson. Peter Mlercken, Richard Palmer and P. IVltz. 

Party was forgotten. The committee included men who were strong Federalists, as well as 
Democratic leaders, and all the papers, without regard to party, urged the loyal support of the 
committee by all citizens. The City Councils of Philadelphia met and voted to borrow $300,000 
to be placed in control of the Committee of Defense ; and the corporations of Northern Liberties 
and Southwark each added $100,000 to this fund. Volunteers were abundant and the entire 



THE STORY OF ri 1 1 LADELPHIA 



209 



autumn was spent in drilliuL;' new recruits and l)uil(lin<^- fortilieations. The Coinniiltcc of 
Defense planned for fortirtcations near Gray's l*\'rry. a redoubt opposite I laniilton's Grove, on 
the west side of tlie Schuylkill, a fort at the junction of the Gray's iH'rry and Darby roads, a 
redoubt on tlie Lancaster road and another on the south side of the hill at Fairmount. This 
building prograninie was far too ambitious to ha\e been lilled except ])y enthusiastic voluntary 
enlistment of workers. Citizens of all trades and professions participated and the work was 
done by volunteer labor of 15,0(X) people, each giving one day. The workers included all trades 
and every profession and the work, beginning on September 3, continued until October 1, when 
the field-works w^ere completed. X'arious harbor works were later undertaken and forts built, 
largely by volunteer labor. News received on the 14th of September of the landing of the Brit- 
ish near Baltimore brought greatly increased excitement and intensified defensive preparations. 
Rumors kept up the tension and the news of the bombardment of Fort McHenry caused great 
anxiety, soon to be relieved by the cheering news of the retreat of the British. General Winfield 
Scott, arriving on September 29, was given an ovation and escorted to his hotel with military 
honors. 




Country vSchool House, 1812 



Troops continued to be organized and pre})arations made for a vigorous defense or ofifen- 
sive in 1815. News of the battle of New Orleans January 8, did not reach Philadelphia until 
February 5, and soon afterward (on February 13) the news arrived that a treaty had been 
signed at Ghent, on December 24, 1814, and ththat the war was over. The worst loss to the 
British was the 1600 vessels which had been captured as prizes or destroyed. The treaty was 
ratified by the Senate on February 17, 1815. It did not settle the "search and impressment" 
claims of England which was the chief of the causes of the war, but the practice was not 
resumed. It did, however, settle the disputed territorial boundaries and made due acknowl- 
edgment as to the exclusive right of the United States to navigate the Mississippi. America 
w^as satisfied and the people of England w^ere disgruntled by the treaty. 

The financial operations in connection with the War of 1812-1814 seem very trivial in com- 
parison with these later war days when such operations are estimated in terms of billions as 
compared with the millions of a century ago. With the beginning of the war the flotation of 
loans became a necessity, and Albert Gallatin, Swiss by birth, who had been a United States 
Senator from Pennsylvania, was Secretary of the Treasury. In May, 1812, he ofTered $11,000,000 
in twelve-year 6 per cent bonds, and succeeded in selling $6,000,000 of these, which was 
thought to be a favorable showing. Philadelphia took $1,645,800 of this issue, of w^hich the four 
banks took $1,000,000 divided as follows: Bank of Pennsylvania, $500,000; Farmers' and 



210 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Mechanics' Bank, $300,000, and $100,000 each to the Philadelphia Bank and the Bank of North 
America, the remaining part of Philadelphia's suhscription to the loan going to business firms 
and individuals. As it was estimated that $21,000,000 would be needed for the war expenses of 
1813, other expedients had to be tried. By suggestion of Secretary Gallatin and authority of 
Congress, an issue of treasury notes, payable in one year with interest at 5 2/5 per cent was 
made. Further issues of government securities to the amount of $16,000,000 were authorized, 
but only $6,000,000 had been raised after a month or more of efifort. Recourse was had to money 
lenders, and $9,000,000 of the loan was sold, $2,000,000 to John Jacob Astor, of New York, and 
$7,000,000 divided between David Parrish and Stephen Girard, of Philadelphia. Attempts to 
make this transaction appear as an outburst of patriotism on the part of these three men are 




An Oli> PHir,\DELPHiA Pagkant. Procession of Victualkks, 1821 



somewhat weakened by the fact that they took the loan at 88 per cent, and stipulated that if 
the government should at any time in 1813 borrow money at a less advantageous price they 
should have a corresponding rebate on their purchase. Without going into detail as to the gov- 
ernment financial operations it may be stated that when peace was concluded by Senate ratifica- 
tion in February, 1815, the new debt aggregated $63,000,000 in 6 and 7 per cent bonds, $17,000,000 
in treasury notes, and many unliquidated claims of individuals. 

War prices had prevailed during the war, but the return of peace which caused stocks and 
government bonds to rise brought down merchandise to prices one-half or one-third those which 
had been reached during the war. Philadelphia rejoiced and illuminated in celebration of the 
treaty of Ghent, and resumed business on a peace basis. Trade increased and industry expanded, 
but under considerable financial difficulties. Currency was in a very unsatisfactory condition. 
Suspension of specie payments in August, 1814, had left nearly every one a debtor. Notes of 
two cents face value were issued and used as change. They were at first signed by reputable 
business men and firms who made them redeemable when presented at their bank in sums 
amounting to one dollar, but they were circulated in great numbers and many persons who never 
redeemed these notes or intended to do so issued these "shinplaster" notes. Other notes were 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



211 



issued by merchants in various fractions of a dollar, such as the 634-cent notes issued by John 
Thompson, a grocer, of 130 North Water Street, who made them good for groceries, or, at 
sixteen for a dollar, redeemable on demand in Philadelphia bank notes. Bank notes generally 
were at a discount — those of New York at 14 per cent and those of Philadelphia and Baltimore 
at 16 per cent. To pay the national debt the taritf on imports was increased 40 per cent over 
the rates of duty which had prevailed before the war. 

The original Bank of the United States in Philadelphia, which had, on Hamilton's recom- 
mendation, been chartered in 1791 for a term of twenty years, had been refused a renewal of 
its charter in 1811, and its loss was felt during the war period because the functions of coordi- 
nation of banking activities which it had established were of a quality that could not be under- 
taken by any of the existing institutions. The manifest lack of banking facilities led to a demand 
for charters for State institutions which was considerably overdone. The State Legislature 
chartered twenty-five new banks in 1813, but Governor Snyder vetoed the bill. In 1814 a bill 
passed to charter forty-one of them, and this bill was also vetoed but passed over the veto.. As 
each charter carried a note-issuing privilege, these new institutions soon put a large number of 
notes in circulation. 




University of Pennsvlv.\nia in the F'arly Days 



Congress in 1816 chartered the second Bank of the United States, located, like its prede- 
cessor, in Philadelphia, and fixed its capital at $35,000,000. The first president of the bank 
was William Jones, a native Philadelphian who had been Secretary of the Treasury in Madison's 
Cabinet during two years of the War of 1812-1814. The bank opened its doors on January 7, 
1817, and established nineteen branches in various parts of the country, later adding six more. 
Its operation had a stabilizing efifect upon financial affairs, governmental and commercial. 
Langdon Cheves, of South Carolina, was president of the bank from 1819 to 1823, and was 
succeeded by Nicholas Biddle who remained at the head of the bank until its charter expired. 
Among the conditions of the charter of the bank were that it should pay a bonus of $1,500,000 
in one, two and three years, should issue no notes under $5, and was forbidden to suspend specie 



212 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



payments under 12 per cent penalty. The date of the hank's charter was a difficult one in 
which to comply with the last named provision, the payment of specie having been suspended 
for more than two years. The introduction of forty-one new banks to the note-issuing category 
had flooded the State with bills of a more or less problematical value. The bank in its first few 
years was not overburdened with demands for specie, and later its resources of coin were so 
replenished that it was able to lead in reestablishing a coin basis. It became a power in the 
land, but a strong party in the country regarded the bank in the light of a dangerous monopoly, 
and that party prevented the rechartering of the bank. Andrew Jackson, elected President of 
the United States in 1828, was one of those who did not disguise their hostility to the bank. His 
message to Congress in 1829 expressed a belief in the unconstitutionality of the bank's charter. 
The question was drifting into politics and Nicholas Biddle, the president of the bank, and his 
associates, feeling that if Andrew Jackson should be reelected in 1832 the chances of a rechar- 
ter of their bank in 1836 would be slight, decided that it would be well to secure the extension 
of the charter during his first term. They felt sure that the current Congress would grant the 




■^e^^ 



Mount Pleasant — Arnold's Housk 



charter and if it did and Jackson should fail to approve it the question of renewal could be 
made an issue in the presidential campaign. In any event the existing charter would hold until 
1836. So in 1832 a bill passed both houses of Congress extending the Federal charter of the 
bank. Jackson vetoed it, and the bill failed to pass over his veto. In the presidential election 
of 1832 Andrew Jackson was opposed by Henry Clay. Both had been members of what had 
been officially known as the Republican Party, but since Jefiferson's time popularly called Demo- 
crats. Jackson in 1832 took the name of Democrat and Clay was nominated by a section of the 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



213 



party calling themselves ofticially in that election the National Republican party, but preferred 
the name "Whig," as it had been part of their plan to picture Jackson as a tyrant and his par- 
tisans as "Tories" — and themselves, therefore, "Whigs" by contrast. Clay made his fight prin- 
cipally on the bank issue. But the Jackson stand against a monopoly in banking — which was the 
way he and his campaigners presented it — proved popular, and even more so his vigorous course 
against the South Carolina "nullifiers." Jackson received 219 electoral votes; Clay, 49; John 
Floyd, of Georgia, an independent candidate. 11 ; and William Wirt, of Maryland, anti-Mason, 7. 
In September, 1833, Jackson, through Roger B. Taney, Secretary of the Treasury, removed 
the $8,000,000 of government deposits from the bank. This crippled the institution and caused 
it, and its -correspondent banks and branches, to greatly curtail the volume of their credits and 




O1.D Phii,adelphia Institutions 



call m loans. Many failures and much restriction of business followed, with general distress. 
The impossibility of renewal of the Federal charter led the directors to secure a charter from the 
State of Pennsylvania, February 18. 1836. for a new institution under the name of the Pennsyl- 
vania Bank of the United States which purchased the goodwill and fixtures of the old bank and 
contmued the business. It seemed to prosper under the continued presidency of Nicholas Biddle, 



214 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



but it felt the loss of its national prop, and moreover it joined in the expansion, overtrading and 
unsound banking methods which prevailed over the country. Banking was done without ade- 
quate specie basis ; banks over the whole land turned out paper "money" in the most reckless 
fashion. The bank suspended specie payments on October 10, 1839. and the Legislature fixed 
February 1, 1841. as the date for it to resume them. In preparation for it the bank borrowed 
from the Philadelphia banks $5,000,000 on its notes averaging thirteen and a half months for 
maturity ; and the lending banks borrowed $2,000,000 from New York and New England banks 
so that specie payments were resumed. But the bank found itself unable to meet its obligations 
and made an assignment September 4, 1841, precipitating a time of great financial disaster all 

over the country. 

Following the treaty of Ghent and the end of the war troubles the people of Philadelphia 
turned their attention to the vocations of peace and progress. City improvements, roads, ferries, 
turnpikes and steamboat lines made travel easier to the surrounding country and opened commer- 
cial communications with other cities. Markets were established for public convenience, includ- 
ing a new fish market opened in January, 1816, and in the following July, for the first time, fish- 
ing vessels went to sea and brought their cargoes of fish in ice to the Philadelphia market. A 
new chain bridge was erected in 1817 to take the place of the old one over Schuylkill Falls. 




GiRARD College, 184S 

The visit to Philadelphia of President James Monroe in June. 1817, was made a great social 
event with military, naval and civic honors. Early in 1818 the Philadelphia Councils made for- 
mal presentation to Commodore Perry of the costly sword which had been voted for in 1813 
and finished in 1815. 

Yellow fever visited the city in 1819, but vigorous action on its first appearance limited its 
ravages so that the deaths did not exceed twelve. But in 1820 there was a more severe visitation 
in which 757 deaths were recorded from the disease. 

It took years of propaganda to convince the people of Philadelphia that anthracite coal was 
fit for use as fuel. As early as 1803 the Lehigh Coal Mining Company was organized, but the 
idea of burning such coal was regarded for a long time as a joke. But little by little people 
learned by experiment the value of this fuel, and in 1821 the Lehigh Navigation and Coal Com- 
pany sent 365 tons of coal to Philadelphia. 

In 1823 the Legislature, on March 31. passed an act to incorporate a company to build a 
railroad from Philadelphia to Columbia in Lancaster County, and John Connelly, Michael Baker, 
of Arch Street; Horace Binney, Stephen Girard and Samuel Humphreys, of Philadelphia; 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Emmor Bradley, of Chester County; Amos Ellmakcr, of Lancaster City, and John Barbour and 
WilHam Wright, of Columbia, were constituted the president and directors of a company to be 
called "The President, Directors and Company of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company." 

Politics were particularly warm in Philadelphia in 1824, the local contests being affected by 
the national split in the Democratic Party. The division was based upon the objection to the 
plan which had before been followed of having the party nominee for President selected by Con- 
gressional caucus. The objectors were principally advocates of the nomination of Andrew Jack- 




Old Churches 



son for President. Crawford, Adams and Clay were the other aspirants and when the caucus 
was held it was said that Jackson would have been nominated if Clay had not finally, when he 
found he could not reach the nomination himself, diverted his support so as to nominate John 
Quincy Adams for the presidency. The quarrel tinctured the local nominees, there being two 
Democratic State and County tickets and three for the Legislative candidates, one backing Jack- 
son, another Crawford and the other the Adams-Clay ticket. In the contest for electors in city, 
county and State, Andrew Jackson had overwhelming majorities and he received the whole elec- 
toral vote of Pennsylvania. The election went into the House of Representatives, which chose 
John Quincy Adams. 

For many years there had been agitation for a canal to connect the Delaware and Chesa- 
peake. On April 15, 1824, the first sod of the project was turned, at Newbold Landing, in the 
presence of the Mayor of Philadelphia, the Chief Justice of the State of Delaware and many 
prominent citizens, and Thomas Cope delivered an address dealing with the history and progress 
of the enterprise. 



216 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



The welcome given to Lafayette was the great pubhc event of the year. Councils extended 
the invitation on July 29 and for two months preparations were going on. General de Lafayette 
was met at Morrisville, on September 27, by troops of cavalry from Philadelphia and various 
Pennsylvania counties which escorted him and Governor Schulze to Frankford, where they slept 
for the night at the United States Arsenal. Early next morning Lafayette visited Frankford 
village where he was given an official reception by the borough authorities, after which he was 
escorted to Rush's field where the general reviewed the troops of the city. Afterward, with a 
cavalry escort, the general, in a barouch, passed over a line of march which included a long mili- 
tary and civic procession in which were the governors of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, City 
Councils and many other dignitaries. The procession halted at the State House, where further 
ceremonies were held, and from there he was escorted to the Franklin House, at the south corner 
of Walnut Street and west side of Washington Square, where he made his headquarters. On 
the next day, Wednesday, September 29, he was given a reception by the Society of the Cincin- 
nati in Independence Hall, Major William Jackson delivering an address. The children of the 
public schools were received in the State House yard on September 30. and in the afternoon Gen- 
eral de Lafayette was given a Masonic reception in Masonic Hall. For a week after, receptions, 
balls, dinners and festivities brought back memories of the Revolution and the services which the 
men of that period had rendered to America and Liberty. 

Robert Wharton, who had been mayor of the city for many years, resigned in April, 1824, 
and Joseph Watson was chosen by Councils in his stead. Mr. Wharton had been honored by 
several elections, serving as mayor in 1778-1779, 1806-1807, 1810, 1814, 1818, and 1820-1824. 




CALLOWHILL STREET (FAIRMOUNT) BRIDGE. 



Canal projects of importance were put in motion in 1825 to connect Lake Erie with the Alle- 
gheny and Susquehanna rivers, and, more locally important, one to connect the Delaware and 
Schuylkill rivers. The New Jersey Legislature in March authorized the construction of the 
Delaware and Raritan Canal. All these projects had their inspiration in the great success of the 
New York-Lake Erie Canal system worked out by the genius and interest of De Witt Clinton. 
Many additions were made to the nunil)er of steamboat lines connecting Philadelphia w^ith vari- 
ous places on the Atlantic seaboard and tributary rivers. 

Lafayette's second visit to Philadelphia in July. 1825, was made an occasion of ovations and 
festivities more notable than any that had occurred in his first visit. Of the visitors to Philadel- 
phia none took a firmer hold on popular admiration. During his Revolutionary career in this 
coiuitry, as Washington's close friend and companion in arms, this French marquis had been a 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 217 



frequent visitor to Philadelphia, then the seat of the Continental Congress. He went hack to 
France taking- with him the respect of the new republic as a popular hero, a place which history 
has permanently assigned him. He died in Paris on May 20, 1834, and when news of his death 
came to Philadelphia in June, Councils made provision for a procession in his honor on July 21. 
Many civic organizations took part in this tribute, including city and district officials, members of 
the benevolent societies of the city and of the fire and hose companies. Commemorative exer- 
cises were held in Zion Lutheran Church, in Cherry Street, where prayer was offered by Bishop 
White, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and an address was delivered by Peter S. Duponceau, 
who had been the friend and military companion of General de Lafayette during the Revolution. 

In 1826 the cornerstone of the Philadelphia Arcade was laid on May 3. It was located on 
the north side of Chestnut Street, between Sixth and Seventh Streets and extended through to 
Carpenter (now Jayne) Street, on the site of the old Carpenter mansion-house, one of the finest 
structures of colonial and Revolutionary times. The arcade idea was copied from the Burlington 
Arcade, near Regent Street, London, then the location of many of the finest and most exclusive 
shops of the British metropolis and a resort of fashion. With fronts of Pennsylvania marble 
on Chestnut and Carpenter Streets, with four bold arches entering wide open avenues leading from 
street to street, rows of shops on each side fronted on these avenues. The second story, reached 
by stairs near each front, was also laid out in shops with gallieries in their fronts from street to 
street, and the third story was enclosed and entirely devoted to the use of the Pennsylvania 
Museum. The cellar was a fashionable restaurant kept by David Gibb. The ground cost $42,500 
and the building $112,000. At first it was well rented and had considerable popularity, but 
when the novelty wore off the public passed it by and only to a small extent turned into these 
covered avenues. The eighty rooms in the two shop stories did not attract, rents had to be low- 
ered, and finally the museum removed to Ninth and Walnut Streets and the third floor was used 
as a music room. Dr. David Jayne bought the property in 1863, tore down the arcade and built 
on its site three fine marble stores extending through from Chestnut to layne Street. 

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, who were associated in history as the two foremost advo- 
cates of the Declaration of Independence, chiefly written by Jefferson, both died, by strange coin- 
cidence on the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of that most historic of instruments, July 4, 
1826. By resolution Councils ordered that the Hall of Independence and their own chaml)ers should 
be draped in black for six months, and that the 24th of July should be set apart as a day of 
public mourning for the two great patriots. The day was generally observed as recommended by 
Councils, occupations and business being suspended, public offices closed and places of worship 
opened. The old Liberty Bell in the State House was muffled and tolled. General Cadwalader, 
division commander, caused minute guns to be fired, vessels in the river displayed flags at half- 
mast ; apartments on the lower floor of the State House were hung in black, and citizens generallv 
wore mourning for thirty days, There was a solemn parade, civic and military, on the 24th. The 
soldiers marched to Independence Square, and the civic part of the parade grouped behind the 
soldiers. John Sergeant, from a black-draped scaffold in the rear of the State House, delivered 
a scholarly and elegant oration and eulogium. So that these two patriots, associates in creation of 
American liberty and later rivals in partisan leadership of the two great parties which contended 
for control of the government, w^ere mutually honored and mourned in the city where their great 
reputations were largely made. 

John Sergeant, who made the address on this occasion and was soon after appointed oiie of 
the two envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary to the Congress at Panama, which was 
one of the earlier efforts to secure diplomatic union between the United States and the South 
American countries, was. in November, 1826, the recipient of a complimentary banquet at Masonic 



218 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Hall. It was tendered him by the Philadelphia Bar, of which Mr. Sergeant was an honored 
member. A few days later he left for Panama in the United States sloop-of-war Hornet. 

The Greek rebellion against Tvirkey, which had the general sympathy of the Christian world, 
was not forgotten in Philadelphia. A meeting to express that sympathy was held in the Court 
House on January 2, 1826. Another meeting in October proposed to raise a military corps to be 
called the American Greek Legion, but later meetings decided that charitable rather than mili- 
tary aid was needed from America. Mathew Carey was put at the head of this movement and as 
a consequence one man ofifered a thousand barrels of flour and another the services of a ship 
to carry provisions to Greece. The brig Tontine sailed in March, 1827, with $16,000 worth of 
provisions, and up to the close of the subscription Hsts in the summer of 1828 $25,575 had been 
contributed and used fcr Greek relief. 




Boating on the Schuylkill 



Until 1826 the burial of Philadelphia's dead was either in church burying grounds or in the 
Potter's Field. In that year the first cemetery was established by the Mutual Burying-Ground 
Society of the city and county of Philadelphia, organized August 17. 1826. The Union Bury- 
ing Ground, the Machpelah Cemetery and the Philanthropic Cemetery were started in 1827. 
These organizations were a good beginning of a much-needed convenience. The room in the 
church burying grounds was restricted and expensive. It was very difficult for one not a member 
of the congregation to get interment in them and from twenty to thirty dollars had to be paid 
before ground was broken in some of the parish graveyards. The Mutual Burying Ground was 
on Washington Avenue (then Prime Street) on the south side, east of the line of Tenth Street; 
the Union Burying Ground, in Southwark, was a large lot on the line of Sixth Street, extending 
down to Federal Street; the Machpelah was on the north side of Prime Street (Washington 
Avenue) from Tenth to Eleventh Street, and the Philanthropic Cemetery was on Passyunk 
Avenue, below the county prison. All these were upon the mutual or associate plan, and sold lots 
8x10 feet for $10 each. On April 8. 1833, the Philadelphia Cemetery Company was incorpo- 
rated. It had bought in 1827 from James Ronaldson a large tract bounded by^hippen, Fitz- 
water. Ninth and Tenth Streets, which Ronaldson had laid out with walks and small parks in a 
very attractive manner. 

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society was organized in 1827, a preliminary meeting being 
held November 24 at the Franklin Institute of which the venerable Mathew Carey was chairman 



THE STORY OF PIULADELPHIA 219 

and lames Mease, secretary, at which organizing coniniittees were selected, and on the 21st of 
December the society was founded with seventy-eight members. The first regular election of the 
Society was held June 2, 1828, and Horace Binney was chosen as first president. 

Persistent effort had been exerted for many decades to secure the construction of an ade- 
quate breakwater at the mouth of Delaware Bay. An Act of Congress, tentative in character, 
was passed May 7, 1822, appropriating $22,700 to build two piers conditioned upon the secre- 
tary's approval if he should deem the measure, after survey, to be expedient. The engineers, 
after survey, declared a work of much larger scale, constructed of durable material, was needed at 
that place. Plans were made and filed in the War Department, and the President recommended 
its construction in his annual message. Finally after many efforts by the Chamber of Com- 
merce and other Philadelphia organizations, and much statistical demonstration of loss and dam- 
age to shipping for lack of this protection, Congress, on May 23, 1828, passed an act providing 
"that the President of the United States cause to be made near the mouth of the Delaware Bay 
a breakwater," and appropriated $250,000 for the purpose. The first stone of the breakwater 
was laid soon after and the work was continued until there was enclosed a harbor of 360 acres 
estimated area, with a depth of from three to six fathoms. The light, known as the Breakwater 
Light, was built in 1848. 

Silk culture in Pennsylvania was encouraged and accelerated as the result of the formation 
in Philadelphia in 1828 of the Pennsylvania Society for the Promotion of the Culture of the Mul- 
berry and the Raising of Silkworms, which was accomplished by the payment of substantial pre- 
miums of $50 for the greatest number of cocoons, and $30 for the next greatest number of 
cocoons, not less than fifty pounds gross, raised in Pennsylvania. For the best white mulberry 
trees of not less than two years' growth planted at equal distances, say twenty-five feet apart, 
not less than 400 hundred trees, $50 ; next greatest quantity, not less than 300 trees, $30, and for 
the next greatest quantity, not less than 200 trees, $20. 

Catholic emancipation provided for in the Catholic Relief Bill passed by the British Par- 
liament brought rejoicing among the friends of religious freedom in Philadelphia. The bells of 
the State House and those of Christ Church, Protestant Episcopal, w^ere rung as a token of 
rejoicing "over the recent triumph of religious liberty in England." A meeting of friends of 
Ireland celebrated the event in the County Court Room with resolutions of thanks to Daniel 
O'Connell and the Duke of Wellington, and a dinner was given in Independence Hall with 350 
people present, Mathew Carey presiding, and appropriate speeches and songs. It was the last 
occasion of the use of Independence Hall for such a public gathering. 

The French Revolution of July, which resulted in the banishment of Charles X, and in 
which General Lafayette had borne a leading part, w^as celebrated by a town meeting called to 
meet at the District Court Room on September 25, 1830, William Rawle presided; Nicholas 
Biddle and Daniel Coxe were vice-presidents, and Richard Willing and Charles J. Ingersoll were 
secretaries. John Sargent was the princi]xal speaker and appropriate resolutions, with congratu- 
lations to General Lafayette, were adopted. Other meetings were held and a military celebration 
which displayed the tri-colored flag in company with the United States flag was held on October 
4 in honor of the same event. 

The Legislature on March 15, 1831, repealed an act passed April 4, 1798, the operation of 
which had been an annoying obstruction to the use of the streets on Sundays. The 1798 act 
had authorized churches to fix chains across the streets on which they were located at a distance 
from the building so that their congregations should not be disturbed by the noise of passing 
vehicles. The exercise of this privilege compelled many vehicles, even including mail wagons 
and firemen, to take circuitous routes. Many petitions were sent to the Legislature again'^t the 



220 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



obstructions, and though there were remonstrances by clergymen and church members, the streets 

were made free. 

The death of Stephen Girard occurred on the 26th of December. He was a native of France 
and had been a seaman, but came to Philadelphia when a young man and had resided in the city 
more than sixty years at the time of his death at the age of eighty-one. He had been a most 
successful merchant and was a man devoted to business and not suspected of any large spirit 
of philanthropy, such as his will revealed him to have. At his death his estate was valued at 
$7,500,000, an enormous amount for those days. He bequeathed to friends and relatives $140,000 
in cash, and annuities which amounted to $65,000 additional. He gave the city of Philadelphia 
$500,000 for the improvement of the eastern front of the city on the Delaware, gave $300,000 
to the State of Delaware for internal improvements ; devised 280,000 acres of land in Louisi- 
ana to the cities of Philadelphia and New Orleans (a gift subsequently lost to these cities by an 
adverse decision in a lawsuit) ; bequeathed $116,000 to various charitable institutions in Phila- 
delphia, and left the city $2,000,000 in trust for the purpose of erecting and maintaining a col- 







^' i^ ^ f" ' * , t ' lit > 1 

\ 




Charitable Institutions 



lege for the education of poor white male orphans, while the residue of his wealth was left to 
the city of Philadelphia for the support of the college, the improvement of the police system 
and the reduction of taxation. Girard's heirs attacked the will by every legal device and besides 
the Louisiana lands they secured a decision that coal lands bought by Girard after the date of 
the will did not properly form a part of the residuary estate and therefore was subject to dis- 
tribution among his heirs according to the laws of Pennsylvania at that time. A vigorous attempt 
was made to invalidate the grant to Girard College, but that bequest was upheld in all the courts 
and finally confirmed by the Supreme Court of the United States. 



TllR STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



221 



The Asiatic cholera xisited IMiiladclpliia in \i>32. Of Asiatic origin it never had \isitecl Europe 
until 1S30 when cases appeared at Moscow. Central Europe was scourged in 1831. and it appeared 
in Sunderland, England, in Octoher of that year; in Edinburgh in January, 1832; in London in 
February, in Paris in March, and the lirst American case occurred at Quebec on June 8. New 
York had its first case on June 24, and a sanitary board was appointed by Councils to prevent or 
combat the disease in Philadelphia. Dr. Samuel Jackson, Charles D. Meigs, and Richard Harlan 
who visited Canada and New York City to in\estigate the causes and the methods of preven- 
tion and cure of the epidemic, returned and reported that the disease was the genuine Asiatic 
cholera. They enjoined the most careful sanitation and diet precautions and the health authori- 
ties found considerable difficulty in enforcing sanitary rules in some sections of the city, and 
more in establishing and locating places of refuge from the disease. The first case occurred on 
the 5th of July, and the disease from that on ran its course until October 4, when the last case 
was reported. There were altogether 2314 cases reported, and 935 deaths. 

The centennial of the birth of Washington was celebrated as a great patriotic tribute on 
February 22, 1832, with processions and services of an appropriate kind, and the cornerstone 
of a monument was laid in Washington Square with addresses by Dr. W. C. Draper and David 
Paul Brown and a prayer by Bishop White, of the Protestant Episcopal Church. But no 
monument was raised on that stone. 




S1.EIGHING ON Broad Street 



President Andrew Jackson visited Philadelphia in June, 1833, while on a tour through the 
northern States, reaching the city via Baltimore and New Castle and up the river on a steam- 
boat. He received the Federal salute of twenty-one guns and was carried in a barouche drawn 
by four hor.ses to the City Hotel, in Third near Arch Street, being attended by the City Troop 
and several local military companies. He attended the First Presbyterian Church on the next 
day and heard a sermon by Rev. Albert Barnes, and on Monday was tendered a reception in 
Independence Hall, where he was greeted by the local officials and thousands of the populace. 

Race riots were a not infrequent feature of the city's troubles at that period, and while 
the anti-slavery propaganda found many adherents in the city there were also many foes of 



222 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



abolition. The attempt of a negro boy called Juan on the life of his master, Robert R. Stewart, 
who had been United States Consul to Trinidad, on July 12, 1834, led to a raid next day against 
negroes in various sections of the city, the assaulting of several young negro men who showed 
signs of belligerency and the attempt at burning of "Red Row" — about nine houses on Eighth 
Street, below Shippen, occupied by negroes. An attempt to hamper the firemen who tried tc 
save the houses was beaten off, and only the house first fired was destroyed. An attempt to 
renew the riot was repressed next day by the pDlice. 

The Philadelphia Gas Works was created by ordinance of Councils on March 21, 1835. 
There had been private installations of gas for single buildings beginning with an exhibition of 







Fkanki.tn's Grave 



gas by Michael Ambroise & Co., in 1796, and the use of gas in Peak's Museum and Warren & 
Wood's New Theater in 1816. The Masonic Hall w^as lighted by gas, and after it burned the 
new one, erected in 1822, was also gas-lit and was the only public building so lit for many years. 
It had its own jilant. Within a few years from the passage of the ordinance of 1835 gas light- 
ing became general in Philadelphia. i 
Mention of the "hard times" ha's been made in connection with the story of the Bank of the 
United States on previous pages. In 1836 it began and with the disappearance of specie and the 



THE STORY OF I'll ILADELPIIIA 22,1 



uncertain value of the numerous varieties of paper money atloat there was great reduction of 
wages, rents and prices, with a scarcity of real money which made insolvency and sufferin"- 
general. 

A convention to amend the old Constitution of 1790 met at Ilarrisl)urg on May 2, 1837. 
John Sargent was elected president and the sessions continued there until the convention 
adjourned on November 23 to meet at Musical Fund Hall in Philadelj^hia on November 28. 
Sessions continued here until Washington's birthday, 183S', the Constitution being signed bv the 
delegates on February 22. It was referred to and adopted by the peoi)le in October at tlie State 
election. 

Pennsylvania Mall, a fine and capacious building dedicated to free discussion, had been 
erected at Sixth and Haines Street, below Race Street, the ground having been botight in 1837 
and the structure erected by a joint stock company composed chiefly of abolitionists. The dedi- 
cation of the building occurred on the 14th of May, 1838, by a speech by David Paul Brown. 
He declared himself in favor of the abolition of slavery but did not believe immediate abolition 
would be wise. In the evening of May 15 there was a convention of abolitionists to which 
negro freedmen were admitted on a basis of equality. Great excitement was engendered among 
the anti-abolition forces of the city, and placards were struck announcing that "a convention to 
efifect the immediate emancipation of the slaves throughout the country is in session, and it is the 
duty of citizens who entertain a proper respect for the Constitution of the Union and the rights 
of property to interfere," following with a suggestion that citizens should assemble at Pennsyl- 
vania Hall on the morning of Wednesday, May 16, "and demand the immediate disjjersion of 
said convention." 

The convention continued its exercises on Wednesday. In the morning there was a discus- 
sion ui)on "Slavery and Its Remedy." The Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women 
occupied the lecture room, and the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society met in the afternoon. 
These meetings met with no serious demonstration. But at night there was an Abolitionist 
meeting, addressed by William Lloyd Garrison. Maria W. Chapman, and Abby Kelly, of Boston. 
A riotous assembly gathered in the streets and some persons in the hall hissed and hooted the 
speakers. Stones were thrown from the street and some of the upper windows were broken. A 
protest made to the mayor, John Swift, was m-t by ad\ice that they should give up night meet- 
ings, but the managers, standing on their rights as citizens, refused to comply and demanded 
protection. On the evening of the 17th crowds began to gather near the hall and were being 
harranged by agitators. The managers, alarmed, assembled in the hall and decided to close the 
building and give the key to Mayor Swift. The mayor went out on the street and addressed 
the crowd of about 300 people on the outside, who cheered him, and some of them followed him 
as he went away. But the crowd left behind was soon augmented by new arrivals from vari- 
ous parts of the city and soon filled the streets around and near the building. Soon after dark 
all the public lamps in the neighborhood were extinguished and some of the crowd secured 
heavy timbers and began to batter the doors. They soon made a breach, fired the building in 
several places and assaulted the police who tried to stop them. When the firemen came the mob 
compelled them to play their hose only on the adjacent buildings, and the new and handsome 
structure burned to the ground. The owners claimed $100,000 damage, but a jm-v of inquiry in 
1841 fixed the loss at $33,000. which the county of Philadelphia paid. The ruins remained as a 
memento of the riot until the Odd Fellows bought the propertv and erected a hall for themselves 
in 1846. 

There was an atteni])t to resume specie payments in 1838. but it proved premature. The 
law prohibited the issue of notes for sums under $5. and the banks were comjielled to j^av all 
balances under a multiple of $5 in coins, and it was estimated that in the vcar 1838 the ])anks 



224 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



had paid out over $100,000 in coin for these balances. This coin could only be had at a pre- 
mium, but the threat of Governor Porter to prosecute and punish any attempt to evade the law 
prohibiting issues of shinplasters or small notes had the effect of keeping specie in circulation 
which would otherwise have been liidden. On the 18th of December the Schuylkill Bank was 
closed as a consequence of the fraud and defalcation of Hosea J. Levis, former cashier and 
then president of the bank. The Schuylkill Bank had been agent for the Bank of Kentucky and 
in that capacity had fraudulently issued more than 13,000 shares of the stock of the Kentucky 
institution. The directors of the Schuylkill Bank insisted that they were not liable, but the courts 
held otherwise, and after the claim of the Bank of Kentucky amounting to nearly $400,000, and 
the demands of the noteholders had been satislied there was nothing left for the stockholders 
of the bank. Levis had fled to Europe but was brought back and punished under indictments 
for perjury, forgery and conspiracy to defraud. 

Dr. Thomas W. Dyott was a druggist and apothecary who had made some money and had 
established successful glass works at Kensington, and in connection with his enterprise he had 
established the Manual Labor Bank. While the chartered banks could and did pay in notes when 
coin was demanded, Dyott, with no charter to back him up, could not get the specie to pay, and 
he was indicted for fraudulent insolvency and sentenced to three years' imprisonment on August 
31, 1839. He was pardoned after a while as it was generally felt that he had not intended fraud. 
He reestablished himself as a druggist and did an honorable business and died several years 
after in good standing in the community. 

In politics the Whig party had made rapid strides and in the campaign of 1840 they joined 
to the fullest extent in that "Log Cabin, Hard Cider and Coon-skin" campaign. They sang the 
campaign songs and rejoiced when in the September election Maine 
"Went hell-bent for Governor Kent 
And Tippecanoe and Tyler, too." 
Their enthusiasm won both city and State for Harrison and Tyler in the November election. 




Early Public Improvements 



CHAPTER 



S E V E N T E E N 



FROM 1840 TO THE CONSOLIDATION 
RACIAL TROUBLES AND POLITICAL TURMOIL 
GROWTH OF OUTLYING DISTRICTS UNTIL ALL 
ARE COMBINED IN THE GREATER CITY 



The attempt of the banks of Philadelphia to resume speeie payments in 1838 having been 
evaded as far as it was possible for them to do so, because the coin supply on hand proved 
entirely inadequate, coupled with the financial troubles of the Schuylkill Bank, resulted in the 
election of a Legislature which, in 1840, passed drastic measures for the resumption of specie 
payments by January 15, ISrl-l, under penalty of forfeiture of charter. This made the banks not 




1 'air MOUNT PaKK in 184O 



only careful of their specie in the interim, but also, each for itself, to redeem as many of its 
own outstanding notes by exchange of other currency for it. The currency of the period was 
chiefly in small notes, up to five and ten dollars, issued by city and district corporations, by loan 
companies (some solvent and some fraudulent), and bank notes from other States. All of these 
kinds of money, for want of better, were received by the city for taxes or other payments due to 



226 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



it, and paid out by it in discharge of its obligations. The disbursing officers encountered Httle 
difficulty about the use of these varied currencies until, in January, 1840, Horace Binney sent a 
communication to Councils. He wrote that he was owner of $20,000 worth of the loan obliga- 
tions of the city and had received notice that the city treasury was ready to pay them. He did 
not require repayment and would allow it to stand, or to reloan the amount to the city, but if 
payment was to be made he would insist on specie, or its equivalent, and would not take depre- 
ciated currency for full payment. Examination of the subject by the Finance Committee brought 
a report that there was a large amount of the kind of currency to which Mr. Binney had objec- 
tion in the city treasury, and expressed an opinion that the city creditors should take it. But it 
was finally decided that persons who declined to take such payment should be given new loan 
certificates for like amounts. On June 25, 1840, Councils passed a resolution that all interest 
should be paid in specie. 




Dock Strkut Wharf, 184S 



The premature attempt to resume specie payments in 1838 and its failure, had a bad effect 
on the better prepared endeavor to comply with the law that required the banks to resume on 
January 15, 1841. The business community distrusted the banks and customers would demand 
payments in specie rather than to accept the banks' own notes as full or part satisfaction in 
ordinary transactions. As a consequence it became necessary for the banks to carry and pay out 
large amounts of coin. The banks were hard-pressed, and the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and 
Girard banks each paid out over $1,000,000 in specie. The Bank of the United States was 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



227 



hardest hit. ( )n January 4, 1841, its statement showed that it had $2,171,722.97 in specie and 
$ 1,148, 101. 9vS in notes of state banks. ( )n tlic other hand, in addition to amounts due deposit- 
ors, its banknotes in circulation were $9,386,000.90. At that time its shares (par $100) were 
selling at $63 per share, and by February 4 had fallen to $45.75 per share. In the interim the 
bank iiad strengthened its resources so that though its assets available for payment of notes had 
only been about $3,300,000 on January 4 it had paid out in twenty days $6,683,321 in coin. The 
other banks of the city had, during the same period, redeemed $5,122,732 of their own notes. 

On February 4 the United States Bank announced that it had again stispended specie payments, 
but paid coin on their five-dollar notes. The other banks paid specie the next day until late in the 
day the run became too heavy for them and some of them also suspended specie payments on notes 
above five dollars. Marking notes "good" instead of paying them was an expedient that satisfied 
some customers. 

The Bank of the United States, on February 13, 1841, memoralized the Legislature for aid, 
setting forth that they had endeavored to carry out the provisions of the law in good faith, but 
had been prevented by a hostile combination and "a pervading distrust stimulated into activity by 
a part of the public press in another State." 




Colliers Loadin-g at Port Richmond 

The Legislature recognized that the banks were in a precarious condition and endeavored to 
furnish relief and passed what became known as the ReHef Law. which authorized the State 
banks, except the United States Bank, to lend three million one hundred thousand dollars to the 
State, in amounts proportionate to their capital, paying the State in their own notes of the denom- 
ination of five dollars and less. Another section authorized the United States Bank to make an 
assignment for the benefit of creditors. ' 

Proceedings pended in the courts for forfeiture of the charter of the United States Bank 
for refusal to pay specie on its notes, and meanwhile a committee of six stockholders was exam- 
ining the afifairs of the bank. They found great shrinkage of values in the assets. They found 
that the Exchange Committee of the bank had loaned recklessly, had speculated and lost, had 
hypothecated securities to meet post notes, and had indulged in speculations in cotton not per- 
mitted by the charter of the bank. It was claimed that most of these transactions were carried 
on by the Exchange Committee without the knowledge of the other directors. The bank finally 
closed its doors September 4, 1841. In January, 1842. Nicholas Biddle. the former president, 
Joseph Cowperthwaite, John Andrews, Samuel Jandon and Thomas Dunlap were arrested, 
charged with conspiracy to cheat and defraud the stockholders of the bank. Jandon and Dunlap 
were discharged under habeas corpus proceedings. The others were tried and after several 
appearances in the Court of Common Pleas and the Court of Criminal Sessions were discharged 
on technical grounds. The bank went into the hands of assignees. 



228 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

Other banks had their troubles and the Girard Bank made an assignment, but its business 
went on and so improved that the stockholders were commanded by the Legislature to elect 
directors in 1844, and the business was resumed and afterward carried on with great success. 
Trouble continued for the banks, and some went out of business. The eventual losses were not 
great, except with the Bank of the United States, in which there was a total loss to stockholders, as 
well as much loss to depositors. The failure of this bank, which had a few years before been 
the chief issue in Federal politics, brought widespread distress throughout the country. 

President William Henry Harrison, who had been elected to that office in November, 1840, 
and was inaugurated on March 4, 1841, remained in office just one month and died on April 4, 
1841. He was the first one of our Presidents to die during his official terni^. Respect to his 
memory was rendered by a ceremony, first set for April 12, but because of a storm postponed until 
April 20, which took the form of a funeral procession, except that instead of a coffin there was 
displayed on the dias of the funeral car a sword, a laurel wreath, rolls of parchment and many 
flowers. A riderless horse, led by a groom, followed the car. Many officials, military and civil 
organizations, schools, etc., joined in the procession. The churches were open and as no one or 
few churches could hold all the people the organizations in the march were assigned to particular 
churches, and memorial services were held in each. The line of march was long and before the 
churches were reached the snow, which had begun about the time the whole procession had fairly 
started, was quite deep. 

The Prince de Joinville, son of Louis Philippe, King of France, came on a visit to the United 
States in 1841, and was in Philadelphia in September. He remained in the city two days and 
was received in Independence Hall by the mayor, councils. French residents and citizens. Other 
appropriate civilities were tendered him. 

Riots broke out in August, 1842, when colored people, who were marching in a procession 
of the Moyamensing Temperance Society, were attacked by white men and boys, who were in the 
street. Heavy fighting followed and assaults were made on buildings in Lombard Street, between 
Fifth and Eighth Streets, and various small courts and alleys near by, windows being broken, 
doors smashed, furniture thrown into the street and negroes beaten. A negro in Bradford's 
Alley fired a gun, which infuriated the mob, and as the man retreated into a house, he was fol- 
lowed, the house forced and all the occupants dragged out and beaten. The assaults were renewed 
in the evening and Smith's Beneficial Hall, a large building used by the colored people for recrea- 
tion, was fired and destroyejd, and a colored people's church on St. Mary's Street was burned. 
The next day some Irish laborers working in coalyards on the Schuylkill, made an assault on a 
force of negroes engaged in similar work near by. A posse of sixty men, sent by the sherifif to 
quell the disturbance, was driven off by the rioters, who marched to Moyamensing and made 
assaults upon the negroes residing in Thirteenth Street and adjacent alleys. When the mayor's 
posse returned. Sheriff Morris applied to the County Commissioners for means to pay for mili- 
tary aid to quell the disturbance. He was authorized to use five thousand dollars for that purpose 
and called out a large body of troops with artillery, muskets and munitions, and with police in force 
to patrol the neighborhood, while the troops, in numl)er ample for the purpose, camped in Wash- 
ington Square. 

A weavers' riot in Kensington, in 1843. was quelled by a similar exhibit of preparedness. 
Some of the weavers organized a trade society and called a strike for higher wages. Other 
weavers in considerable numbers refused to join either the union or the strike. The work in 
Kensington was mostly done by weavers upon hand-looms in their own homes. The strikers, 
infuriated by the refusal of their fellow workers to join in the strike, made organized assault upon 
the houses of the workmen, who refused to go out, cut warps, destroyed looms and stuff in 
process of manufacture. William A. Porter, then sheriff', hearing of the trouble, went with a 



rilE STORY OF ril/L.iniiLPIIIA 



229 



posse and was badly beaten. He called out four companies of tbe X'olunteer Battalion, which 
wxMit to Kensinj^^ton, and in the evening eight companies of General Cadwalader's brigade were 
assembled at their armories. Knowledge of these preparations caused the rioters to subside. 
Commodore Isaac Hull, of the United States Navy, hero of the sea fight between the United 
States frigate Constitution and the British frigate Guerriere, died February 13, 1843, and was 
buried from his residence in Portico Square, Spruce Street, between Ninth and Tenth Streets. 
Lar""e forces from the army, navy and marines attended the funeral. There were also many 
civic societies in line and services were rendered at Christ Church. 

President John Tyler was formally recei\ed upon his \isil 
^. to Philadelphia, June 9, 1843. His two years' in office had not 

\^ been satisfactory to the Whigs, who had elected him vice- 
president, from which a turn of fortune's wheel had elevated 
him U) the presidency uj)on the death of President Harrison. 
His administration had not carried out the policies of the 
Whig party which had elected him. But he was cordially 
leceived by the city. A committee of citizens went to Wil- 
mington, Delaware, brought him by steamboat to the Navy 
"S'ard. where there was a reception by the officers of the navy 
stationed there, and thence in a barouche was taken to the 
United States Hotel in Chestnut Street, escorted by the 
military companies called out for the occasion, and by a few 
Litizens. Mr. Tyler held a reception at Independence Hall 
and went to Baltimore the following day. 

In the earlier years of the republic there had been enmi- 
ties between the various racial strains of the populatioli 
inherited from the days of conflicting claims of sovereignty 
of British, Dutch, French and, near Philadelphia, of Swedes 
to the soil. But as these disputes had been settled by their 
merger into the sovereignty of the United States, this phase 
of the subject disappeared. But there was a religious side to 
the controversy. Bigots of every variety of religious o])inion 
are apt to subscribe to the sentiment, if not the words of the 
"-hrewd cynic, who said: "Orthodoxy is my doxy; Heterodoxy 
is yoitr doxy." The Congregationalists of New England would 
tolerate no Baptist or Presbyterian among them. Dutch 
Reformed and Episcopalian in New York looked upon each 
other with suspicious eyes. The Pennsylvania Friends were 
the most tolerant of them all, but at the same time they kept 
the reins of power and exclusive right lo hold office in the 
hands of Friends as long as it was safe to make such restrictions. 

Against Roman Catholics there was general j)rejudice, born of old struggles in Europe, to 
be free from the power (which had not infrequently been pitilessly exercised) of an intrenched 
hierarchy which they regarded as the embodiment of intolerance. But after the United States was 
organized there was, at first, no disposition to antagonize any person for race or religion, and as 
the country was sparsely settled naturalization laws of a liberal kind were passed, encouraging to 
those who were oppressed in other covmtries to come to this country and be good Americans. 

It was natural for these foreigners who came to flock together, but that clannish spirit, 
though natural, acted as a clog ujion the progress of the immigrant toward those ideals that are 




Laurel Hili< Landing 



230 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



the motive power of the true American. Many foreigners would learn little or nothing of the 
English language, but having their own family and racial ties they thought, spoke, lived and 
acted like Irish, Germans, Poles, Bohemians, etc., kept up newspapers in their own language, and, 
if they became citizens, fell under the spell of some local "boss" who voted them en bloc. This 
tendency has from early years been looked up by high thinking statesmen as a matter of great 
danger to this country. It was and is, but yet experience is favorable to the more optimistic view 
that education and evolution may be trusted to make from these elements good American citizens 
in the third or fourth generation. 

But in the late 'thirties and 'forties there were men who saw the danger, but could see no 
way to master the problem and provide its remedy, except to deny naturalization to the immi- 
grant and, as the slogan went, "to put none but Americans on guard." The Native American 








COLUMBIA AVEXITE. 



Party was born in the period of the so-called Jackson "hard times." In some localities, espe- 
cially in New York, a few politicians, none too scrupulous, specialized in bringing together these 
blocks of voters of foreign birth, using as bait for votes some candidate of like nationality for 
a minor office. 

Opposed to this tendency, men of the older American strains (all, of course, descendants of 
immigrants) felt that some united action was called for, and out of this feeling came the Native 
American. In Philadelphia a weak attempt to organize some such party was made at a meeting 
in Germantown in 1837, which demanded the repeal of the naturalization laws. The nativistic 
idea was greatly strengthened by the attacks of Roman Catholics in some sections upon the pub- 
lic free school idea. The opposition varied in different places. In some it was against any schools 
which were "Godless" schools, that is, schools not under church management. In some, including 
New York, it was oj^position to the reading of the bible in the public schools. In Philadelphia 
there was a similar opposition but modified by the statement that it was the King James trans- 
lation that was objected to. 

In 1843 and 1844 several ward associationswere organized of the Native American party, 
whose program called for a twenty-one year residence as a prerequisite to naturalization ; that 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



231 



"Native Americans only should be appointed to ofHce to legislate, administer or execute the laws 
of the country" ; and "that the bible, without note or comment, is not sectarian ; that it is the foun- 
tain of morality and all good government, and should be used in our public schools as a reading 
book." 

On May 3, 1844. a meeting was held to organize a Native American Association in one of 
the wards of Kensington, a region largely inhabited by Irish and other foreign-born people. The 
meeting was to be held in a vacant lot at the corner of Second and Master streets. A band of 
men of the neighborhood armed with clubs attacked those assembled and dispersed them, but 
the Native Americans rallied and passed resolutions denouncing the outrage. They agreed to 
meet there- again on Monday, May 6, and were again assaulted and driven off, taking refuge in 
the Xanny Goat market, which had been used as a fortress by the weavers in the riots of the 
previous year. An Irish fire company, from their house near by, fired shots into the market, which 
caused some of the Native Americans to make their escape, while others stood their ground and 
responded to the fusillade with stones and bricks. Reinforcements came to each side and the bat- 
tle shifted to other ground. George Shjfler, a boy who was carrying a United States flag for 
the Native Americans, was mortally wounded, and there were eleven others wounded during the 







TOM MOORE'S COTTAGE. 



day. In another encovmter during the evening two men were killed at Second and Thompson 
Streets. George Shifler's tragic death, and the circumstances surrounding it, made him a popular 
hero, and he was buried with honors. His name became a rallying cry for the Native Americans, 
and was used in the oratory of the party's campaigners with telling eiTect. 

On the day following these encounters a meeting was held in the afternoon in the State 
House yard, in response to handbills which invited every man to come "prepared to defend him- 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



self." The resolutions passed at that meeting declared that the actions of the Irish on the preced- 
ing day furnished sure evidence that the Native American view of naturalization was correct and 
that "foreigners in the short space of five years are incapable of entering into the spirit of our 
institutions." and the meeting also emphasized its belief in the retention of bible reading in the 
public schools. 

After the passage of these resolutions some persons suggested that those present should 
march to Second and Master Streets in Kensington, where the previous disturbance had occurred, 
and the Shifler boy had been killed. A large procession mobilized in Chestnut Street, whence the 
march was taken up for Kensington and it was arranged that the American flag should be 
hoisted on the spot where Shifler had fallen. When the persons assigned to that duty arrived at 
the place they were fired at from the Irish hose house. The crowd, infuriated over this attack 
themselves became attackers. They descended upon the hose house, broke it open and burned it. 

The flames spread to other buildings nearby and in the fighting that ensued some persons 
were killed and several wounded. One Irishman who was caught by the mob narrowly escaped 
being hanged to a lamp-post, but the fire was not checked until about thirty buildings, including 
its Nanny Goat Market, were burned. More would have been destroyed at that time if the 
militia had not arrived to protect the firemen, who had been prevented from using their hose until 
the soldiers arrived. The authorities acted unwisely in withdrawing the troops from Kensington, 
for the next day several more home there were sacked and burned. The Irish people of the 
neighborhood, in large numbers packed up what they could carry or get conveyance for, and fled. 
But the mob gathered numbers and momentum, set fire to St. Michael's Church, destroying it 
and several other buildings. The arrival of the First Brigade, under command of Brigadier 
General George Cadwalader, with whom were Major General Robert Patterson and Morton 
McMichael, sheriff of the county, protected Kensington, but other parts of the city were left 
unguarded. Mobs destroyed St. Augustine's Church on Fourth Street, near Vine Street, which 
was burned to the ground, and several other adjoining structures, including the Catholic school, 
and a large library belonging to the Augustinian fathers. All that was saved was a few of the 
books which were thrown out into the street. They were trampled on by the mob and consider- 
ably damaged, but some time after the fire were returned to the fathers. Many of the troops 
camped at Kensington were then ordered to town to protect Catholic property. Following the 
outrages outside militia regiments were brought to the city, comprising a full division under com- 
mand of Major General Robert Patterson, who made his headquarters in the Girard Bank. Citi- 
zens formed themselves into companies for patrol and guard duty, and quiet was restored for 
about two months. 

A presentment by the Grand Jury made soon after these occurrences was favorable to the 
Native Americans, charging that the beginning of the disturbances was caused by "the elTorts of a 
])ortion of the community to exclude the bible from the jniblic schools," such eft'orts leading to 
the formation of a party of those opposed to such exclusion, which, while holding a peaceful meet- 
ing was fired upon by "a band of lawless, irresponsible nien, some of whom had resided in the 
country only a short time," and recited that citizens had been killed, and that retaliatory measures 
had led to further disturbance. Prominent members of the Catholic laity of Philadelphia held a 
meeting of which Hon. Archibald Randall, judge of the United States District Court, was chair- 
man, denied that Catholics began the disturbances, and said that the Catholics had not attempted 
to take the bible out of the public schools, but had only sought to procure the use of the Cath- 
olic version of the Scriptures for children of Catholic parents. 

The net result of the dispute was to add greatly to the strength of the Native American 
party, and the leaders of the party, as an exhil^it of strength, resolved upon a parade for the 
Fourth of July. It was a very imposing procession, in which fifty ward and township associations 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



233 



participated, with a gorgeous display of banners, flags, floats and devices. About four thousand 
five hundred people were in line and there were over fifty thousand spectators. As a political 
pageant it made a record that was not surpassed for fifty years in Philadelphia. 

There was no disturbance, although some Catholics had anticipated that there would be, and 
though the Fourth of July passed quietly, they seemed to dread that there would soon be more 




View of Fairmount Water Works from Le:\ion Hill 

trouble witli the "Church-Burners." as they called the Native American i)artisans. On the even- 
nrg of Friday, July 5, some persons passing the Roman Catholic Church of St. Philip de Neri, 
on Queen Street above Second Street, in Southwark, saw muskets being carried into the church. 
Southwark was one of the strongholds of the Native American party, and its people became 
greatly excited when the report spread that the church was "a fort filled with guns and ammu- 
nition." In the evening hundreds of people gathered about the church. .V small force of police 



234 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



of the district came to be ready for emergency, but as the crowd increased they felt that they 
would not be able to handle the crowd in case it became turbulent. The police, therefore, 
requested aid of the sheritT. Morton McMichael. As he had no posse organized, he applied for 
troops to General Patterson and himself went to Queen Street. He found the crowd in hostile 
mood, demanding that the church should be searched for arms. The sheriff, with Aldermen 
Hortz and Palmer, entered the church and came out with twelve unloaded muskets, with bay- 
onets. The crowd not being satisfied with this report, decided to investigate the matter them- 
selves and deputed three of their own number to examine the church. They discovered seventy- 
five additional muskets, fully loaded, as well as a substantial supply o'f pistols, knives, clubs, 
axes, cartridges, a keg of powder and bayonets fastened on poles to be utilized as pikes. While 
this party of investigators was in the church the detachment of soldiers asked for by Sheriff 
McMichael arrived and dispersed the crowd ; so that the report of the second investigation was 
not circulated until the next morning. 

It was several days later before the presence of these arms in the church was explained. 
William H. Dunn, an Irishman and brother of the rector of the church, a lawyer and a man of 
militant disposition, had. after the riots in May, organized a company of forty men for the 
defense of the church. As they were without arms, he secured from Governor David R. Porter 
an order for twenty-five nuiskets to be served from the arsenal and had secured from Brigadier 
General Horatio Hubbell, of the Third Brigade, a commission as captain of a volunteer com- 
pany. The company had drilled in the church for some time before the Fourth of July, and on 
that day, fearing an attack, there had been 150 men in the building. The guns, which had been 
seen taken into the church, were gtms which had been sent for repair and were being 
returned by the gunsmith. 

The story of the secreted guns stirred the population to fury, and a crowd, ominously sullen 
and revengeful, gathered in the neighborhood in numbers that steadily increased as the day wore 
on. At night General George Cadwalader, who was in charge of the troops, concluded to clear 
the streets, in which cannon were planted. The people stood their ground until the pressure 
became heavy, and then they relieved their unwillingness to leave the scene by taunting the 
soldiers. General Cadwalader, finding this conduct unbearable, ordered his men to fire. As the 
gun was trained on a dense crowd of people and many women and children among them, Charles 
Naylor, ex-Congressman and lawyer, stepped out in front of the gun and protested against the 
order, shouting : "Don't fire ! Don't fire !" Whereupon he was placed under arrest and sent into 
the church under guard to be held as a military prisoner. 

The crowds dispersed, feeling much incensed against the soldiers. On the morning of Sun- 
day, July 7, the story was told all over the city how Charles Naylor had saved the people from 
being mowed down by artillery. He was still in the church. After the crowds had been dis- 
persed the night before, most of the troops had been released, except the Markle Rifles, the 
Mechanic Rifles and the Montgomery Hibernia Greens. This last-named company was made 
up solidly of Irish Catholics, so that the complaint that Naylor, "friend of the people," was being 
held prisoner by the Catholics made a rallying cry. The crowd clamored for the release of Nay- 
lor. brought some old cannon, but could do no damage with them because they lacked ammuni- 
tion of appropriate size. Then they procured a heavy piece of timber, and, using it as a batter- 
ing ram, forced open the door of the church. The soldiers within did not fire on the crowd. 
They released Naylor in custody of the aldermen of the district, who released him upon his 
own recognizance to appear when called. 

Afterward, the crowd demanded that the soldiers should be removed from the church. 
Finally they left, the crowd cheering the Mechanic Rifles and the Markle Rifles, but they saluted 
the "Greens" with jeering and derisive yells and later with stones and brickbats. Finally, a 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



235 



soldier fired at the crowd, upon whicli his company broke and ran, hotly inn-sued by the crowd, 
who caught and beat several of them, one of them, who was suspected of having fired the shot! 
being left for dead. The soldiers having withdrawn from the church, the leading men of the 
Native American party took steps to protect the building. The utmost vigilance was necessary, 
because the news of the events of the day had spread all over the city and had brought continu- 
ally increasing accessions to the crowd. When any new act of violence seemed to be impending 
the leaders, among whom were Thomas D. Grover, Lewis C. Levin, Charles J. Jack and John 
Perr}% addressed the would-be aggressors. In the middle of the afternoon, however, some of 
them took the l)attering ram, which had been so successfully used against the door of the church 
in the morning, and with it made a breach in the west fence-wall of the churchyard. Breaking 
through doors and windows, they swarmed into the church. The Native American leaders, who 




Observ.\torv Near the Basin, Fairmount Park 



had been keeping guard outside, went into thj church and adjured the people to avoid destruc- 
tion. In this they succeeded. Hundreds went through the church, and beyond the initial damage 
to doors and windows, nothing was done to injure the property. When the sightseeing desire of 
the crowd had been satisfied, the prominent Native Americans formed a committee of 100 to 
defend the church, and kept outsiders from entering the building. The crowd dispersed and it 
seemed as though the trouble was over. It would have been if the citizens' committee had been 
left in charge of the church. 



236 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



During the afternoon, while the crowd had been marching through the church, the beU in 
the State House was rung for the miHtia to assemble, the authorities having decided to call the 
troops together to prevent further outbreak. At half-past 6 o'clock the troops left Independence 
Square, with the bands playing, which attracted a steadily growing crowd. The head of the pro- 
cession reached the church at about 7 o'clock, when the citizens' committee defending the church 
turned it over to General Cadwalader. An order was given to clear the streets, and the Cadwala- 
der Grays endeavored the execute the order in Queen Street. They found it difficult to do so, for 
the crowd was too dense to get away quickly and some of its members were sullen. The City 
Guards, Captain Joseph Hill commanding, were ordered to support the Grays, and advanced 




Drive— GiRARD Avenue Bridge, 1845 

with bayonets pointed as for a charge. The crowd was for the most part peaceably inclined, but 
a few rough fellows made mischief by altercation or taunts addressed to the soldiers, and while 
this was going on some bricks and stones were thrown into the ranks from the crowd and struck 
some of the soldiers. Captain Hill, who was in front of his company with sword drawn, was 
attacked by one of the roughs, who tried to take his sword from him and had him beaten down on 
one knee. Captain Hill ordered his men to fire. Volleys rang out down Queen Street and Second 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 237 

Street, killing" William Crozier, Isaac Freed, a 1)!)\' named Linsenberger, Ellis Lewis, and perhaps 
some others, and wounding many, including some women who were on the steps of their own 
houses. This result infuriated the crowd. They procured guns and artillery from various sources 
and pitched battles took place in the streets until about 11 o'clock, when reinforcements of cav- 
alry arrived, captured the cannon and dispersed the crowd. Two non-commissioned of^cers of 
the Gennantown Blues and twelve citizens were killed and scores were wounded, many of them 
seriously. Governor Porter arrived in the city on Monday afternoon with more troops, and at its 
highest mobilization there were more than 5000 men under arms. 

These riots revealed the unprepared state of the city, and, on July 11, Councils appropriated 
$10,000 for the enlistment of a battalion of artillery, a regiment of infantry and a troop of horse. 
Further sums were later voted, and by September these units had been made u]^ with a comple- 
ment of 1350 men. 

A new police act was i)assed April 12, 1845, by which the Legislature required the city of 
Philadelphia and the districts of Spring Garden, Northern Liberties. Kensington, Penn, South- 
wark and the township of Moyamensing to establish and maintain police forces consisting of not 
less than one able-bodied man for "every one hundred and fifty taxable inhabitants." Each dis- 
trict had its own superintendent. The sheriff of the county, in case of riot, could call to his aid 
the police forces of any or all of the other corporations, and he was authorized also, in case of 
need, to call upon the commanders of the militia forces to aid in restoring public peace. 

The police force was a vast improvement over the old "watch" plan which had continued, 
with few modifications, from the old colonial days. An act which passed May 3, 1850, strength- 
ened the efficiency of the force by providing for a marshal of police for the entire police terri- 
tory to be elected every three years. By this later act the police force was at no time to exceed 
one for every 150 taxable inhabitants, as enumerated at the last septennial census, nor less than 
one for every 600 taxable inhabitants. At first, 400 were chosen as the unit of representation, 
which gave the city 55 policemen; Spring Garden, 26; Kensington, 24; the Northern Liberties, 
21; Southwark, 18; Moyamensing, 12; Penn, 4 ; Richmond, 4, and West Philadelphia, when that 
district was incorporated the following year, was given 3. The city was entitled to four lieuten- 
ants and each outlying district one. The force then numbered 180, with 1 marshal, 12 lieuten- 
ants and 167 men. From 1848 on efforts had been made to get the police into uniform, but the 
men had objected. They regarded the wearing of a uniform as "a glaring violation of our repub- 
lican institutions,'' but finally they were adopted and used in 1854. 

In the middle forties a sect of Adventist people had been convinced by Rev. William Miller's 
interpretations of the Book of Revelation that the end of the world was approaching, and their 
prophet was not at all backward about fixing the date. The first he set was in 1843, the date 
being awaited with fear and trembling by his followers, but the prophesied "last day" proved not 
to be the last. There were other "last days" named in that year and 1844, and the final date set 
was October 24, 1844, when those who were sincere Christians were to be caught up to heaven, 
the dead should rise and judgments should be pronounced. The postponements had not shaken 
the faith of his followers, and they had ascension robes made and went to appointed places ready- 
to ascend together. The Philadelphia Millerites went to a field near Darby, Pa. They left their 
stores and houses open and unguarded, for earthly possessions were of no good to them accord- 
ing to their belief. They assembled on October 23 and awaited the great event with prayers 
and hymns. The failure of the expected "great day" on this last appointed day was a deep dis- 
appointment to these faithful people. They returned to their homes to take up their usual voca- 
tions. How many of them changed their Adventist views is not known, but the Adventist Church, 
which grew out of this movement, was organized in 1845 with 50.000 members. Miller him- 
self died in 1849. 



238 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



In 1844 the city bought for $75,000 the Lemon Hill estate, immediately north of the Fair- 
mount water works, originally the country seat of Henry Pratt, but at the time of the sale a 
part of the bankrupt estate of the United States Bank, which had carried it as an asset at a valu- 
ation of $250,000. There was an agitation for its purchase as a means of safeguarding the purity 
of the Schuylkill water. This purchase is looked upon as the foundation transaction in the crea- 
tion of Philadelphia's great Fairmount Park. 

In 1845 the borough of West Philadelphia, the district of Penn and the borough of Frank- 
ford were all incorporated under acts of the Legislature passed that year. An incendiary fire on 
June 11. 1845, brought great damage to the Academy of the Fine Arts in Chestnut, between Tenth 
and Eleventh Streets. Many valuable paintings and the antique gallery containing over fifty 
statues Were totally destroyed. Benjamin West's painting, "Death on the Pale Horse," was cut 
from the frame and saved, though in a damaged state, and Gilbert Stuart's original full-length 
portrait of Washington was also rescued in damaged condition. Among the paintings lost or 
burned were two Murillos, "The Roman Daughter" and "St. Jerome" ; a Guido, "St. Francis" ; 
a shipwreck scene by Salvator Rosa and many others whose loss was irreparable. In September 
following there was another large fire, destroying several forwarding houses near the Columbia 




City Ice Boat 



Railroad Depot, at Broad and Vine Streets. The destruction of the large warehouses was com- 
plete, and they were filled with grain, flour, provisions and other staples^ brought from the West, 
and with groceries, dry goods, clothing and other merchandise ready for shipment to the West, 
all of which were consumed in the flames. 

The first movement toward the construction of the Pennsylvania Railroad was taken in 
1845. A meeting was held at Musical Fund Hall, December 9, addressed by leading Philadel- 
phians and by George Darsie, of Pittsburgh. Committees were appointed to prepare an address 
to the people of Pennsylvania in favor of the building of a railroad between Harrisburg and 
Pittsburgh, and to petition the Legislature for an act of incorporation for a railroad company to 
build a railroad between those two cities. This meeting was therefore the initial step toward 
creating that great railroad system. 

General Andrew Jackson, who had been the seventh president of the United States, died 
at his home, the Hermitage, near Nashville, Tenn., on June 8, 1845, having reached the age of 



THE STORY OF PI I ILADliLTII Li 



239 



7'6 years. The news was received with deep regret by the community, for "Old Hickory" was a 
patriotic memory even in the city where the United vStates Bank had long flourished and later 
crashed. Councils, upon receiving the news, ordered that Independence Hall should be draped 
in black ; and that the State House bell should be muffled and tolled the day that should be 
appointed for general mourning. That day, which was the 26th of June, was solemnized l)y a 
funereal procession in which all the troops of the city and county, the firemen, Odd Fellows, 
Sons of Temperance, officers of the various municipalities of Philadelphia County and members 
of many societies participated, marching to Washington Square, where, upon a black-draped plat- 
form, Hon. George M. Dallas, vice president of the United States, delivered an oration. 

The Congress of the United States having declared on May 11, 1846, that war existed by 
the act of the Republic of Mexico, and President Polk having, on May 13, formally declared 
war against that republic, volunteering was actively taken up and thirty companies were enlisted 
in the city of Philadelphia out of 102 in the entire State, which was far beyond Pennsylvania's 




Looking North from Union League, 1S70 



quota and was more than could be accepted and used. None of the companies was called until 
December, and then only seven companies from Philadelphia and two regiments of the entire 
State. Six of the companies, the Washington Light Infantry, the City Guards, the Monroe 
Guards, the Philadelphia Light Guards, the Cadwalader Grays and the JefTerson Guards, were 
formed into the First Pennsylvania Regiment ; the seventh company was the Philadelphia 
Rangers, and it was attached to the Second Pennsylvania Regiment, made up principally of 
companies from other parts of the State. The captain of this company was Charles Naylor, who 
had taken a prominent part in the Native American riots in 1844 and had for a time been held a 
prisoner in the church on Queen Street. 



240 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Philadelphia hatl an iin])ortant part in the financing of the war, through the hanking house of 
E. W. Clark & Co.. which made the largest subscription to the war loan. Jay Cooke, who had 
been promoted from cleik to partner in that firm three years before, was to become famous 
later in connection with the financing of Government loans for the Civil War. 

General Zachary Taylor's victory over Santa Ana at Buena Vista in 1847 gave the Whigs 
an opportunity to ride into power in the nation. Parties in those days were as keen as these of 
our day. and when the city celebrated the victory on April 19, the Whig leaders. were quite 
ready to acclaim their "Whig hero." The occasion was a noteworthy one, because gas had come 
into general use in the city and councils had resolved to make illuminations more brilliant than 
had ever been shown in the city before. 

Daniel W'ebster was in Philadelphia on December 2'2. 1846, the guest at a public dinner at 
which he delivered a notable speech which lasted for nearly five hours. There were 400 at dinner 
and about 1500 ladies occupied the gallery. The speech is said to have been one of the greatest 
of the famous orator's career. 

A disastrous fire raged in Broad Street on August 21, 1847, destroying the large eight-story 
sugar house refinery of L. Broome & Co., the brewery of Robert Newlin and a row of stables 
on the north belonging to Joseph Rubicam. It was one of the hottest fires of the city's history, 

and when the gable end of the refinery fell upon 
the brewery it caused the brewery walls to fall 
into Broad Street. Two men were killed and 
many injured by the falling walls. 

On the return of the troops from the 
Mexican War in 1848, General Cadwalader was 
received by all the local troops and carried in 
procession to Independence Hall, where he was 
given a rousing public reception ; and the troops 
from Mexico, returning later, were entertained 
at a puljlic dinner and were acclaimed in the 
heartiest manner as they were marshaled in 
parade along the city's streets. 

Henry Clay, the idol of the Whig party, 
came to the city on February 24, 1848, and was 
for several da}'s busy in a series of receptions 
arranged in his honor. When the Whig national 
convention met in the Museum Building in Phila- 
delphia on June 7 it was the general hope of the 
local Whigs that Mr. Clay would be nominated 
for president. But it seems to be necessary 
for Americans to elect one of its successful warriors to the presidency after each of their wars. 
Thus, Washington from the Revolution, Jackson from the War of 1812. William Henry Harri- 
son from the Indian Wars, Grant from the Civil War, Taylor from the Mexican War and Roose- 
velt from the Spanish War. 

The Taylor candidacy fell in with the popular enthusiasm for a successful warrior. It also 
fell athwart the factional jealousies between the followers of Clay and Webster, and for that 
reason General Taylor was the favorite of the practical politicians within the ranks of Whiggery. 
He was nominated on the fourth ballot, with Millard Fillmore as his running mate, and was 
elected. 




Church of St. James thr Less 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



241 







^^. 



There was a riot on the ni^ht of the election, ( )etoher 9. A j;arty of men were dragging an 
old wagon, upon which a load of combustibles had been placed and set on fire, through the streets 
of Moyamensing. There was a brick building at the corner of Sixth and St. Mary Streets called 
the California House and kejn as a tavern, of which the chief patrons were negroes. The pro- 
prietor was a mulatto, and he had a white wife. That kind of miscegenation was very un- 
popular in those days and threats against the ])ro- 
prietor had been quite fre(|uent. The negroes 
had been expecting a raid for some time, and 
when they saw the blazing wagon coming along 
they concluded that the threatened attack was 
soon to begin. So the negroes started trouble by 
throwing stones and bricks at the men drawing 
the wagon. The asault led to retaliatory meas- 
ures. By attacking the California House, and by 
the use of bricks, stones and firearms they gained 
it, piled the furniture together, tore out the gas 
fixtures and set the gas free so that the place 
burned completely. Houses nearljy the Califor- 
nia House were burned, and the mob increased. 
Whites and blacks both were full of the fighting 
spirit and the police had difficulty in persuading 
the colored men to refrain from attack on the 
white rioters, who fought the police and firemen. 
About midnight the State House bell rang a call 
for the military, and about the same time the 
rioters dispersed, leaving Charles Himmelwright 
dead and John Hollick dying, both of these men 
being memljers of (lood Will Fire Company. 
When the militia arrived on the scene they found 
everything c^uiet and they soon took up the return 
march to the mayor's office, where they were dis- 
missed. 

This was a mistake, for before daylight the 
mob, reassembling and finding no soldiers on the 
ground, resumed their mischievous work, set fire 
to a frame house in St. Mary's Street and began 
to attack the colored people of the neighborhood. 
The Phoenix Hose Company, on its way to the 
fire, was stopped and assailed with a volley of 
stones. The mob seized the Robert Morris hose 
carriage and ran it into Moyamensing, and 

cut the hose belonging to the Diligent Hose Company. The firemen later rallied and succeeded in 
saving the burning house, and this so reassure 1 th • negroes that they engaged in battle with 
the whites in Fifth Street until about 8 o'clock. The military returned about 10 o'clock and 
remained on the ground for two days. Besides Himmelwright and Hollick, Thomas G. Wester- 
hood was shot and died that same month; Thomas G. McShane was shot and killed while look- 
ing out of a window and John Griffith, a colored boy, was killed. Nine white and sixteen black 
wounded were taken to the hospital, and there were, doubtless, other wounded who were privately 
looked after. 




Fountain— RiTTENHOusK Square 



242 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



The city was at the time infested by despe 
and who found security in the division of the h 
niunicipahties too weak to cope with organize 
supremacy, and in June, 1848, incendiary fires a 
killed and nine were injured in a fight betw 
Franklin Hose Company and the Moyamensing 

John Ouincy Adams, sixth president of th 
ruary 23, 1848. His remains, on their way to Q 



rate gangs, who raised trouble at various times 
eavily populated area into small independent 
d violence. Gang fought with gang for brute 
nd street fights occurred. Alexander Gillies was 
een gangs which, respectively, adhered to the 

Hose Company, on Shippen Street, 
e United States, died in Washington on Feb- 
uincy, Mass.. for interment, under charge of a 




Girls" Normal J^chool 

Committee of Thirty, appointed by Congress, reached Philadelphia on March 7. The committee 
with the body was offtcially met at Broad and South Streets by the First and Second City Troops. 
The body was placed in a heavily-draped funeral car provided for the occasion and drawn by 
six white horses the coihn being considered in charge of the pallbearers appointed for the Phila- 
delphia ceremony, composed of Chief Justice John B. Gibson, Richard Willing, Samuel Breck, 
United States District Judge John K. Kane. John M. Scott. Dr. R. M. Patterson, Horace Bmney, 
Dr Nathaniel Chapman, William J. Duane, Benjamin VV. Richards, Isaac Roach and James 
Page. The cavalry acted as a guard of honor, and the procession, which took added solemnity 
from the fact that it marched at night, without music, included in its membership the City Coun- 
cils and members of various societies and citizens aggregating several hundreds. The body 
remained at Independence Hall for the night, guarded by the Washington Grays, who escorted 
the remains to the Kensington depot the next morning. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 243 

In 1849 I'hiladelphia had a visitation of Asiatic cholera, which had been prevailng in Eng- 
land and the European continent the ])revious two years. The hrst three cases in Philadelphia 
appeared on May 30, 1849, and cases appeared until September 8, when the last death occurred. 
There were 2884 cases and 1012 deaths from the disease. 

(jeneral Taylor, who was inaugurated on March 4, 1849, ])assed down the river in September 
on his way from New York to Washington. He had not contemplated any visit to Philadelphia 
at that time, but Mayor Swift and a committee o f councils met his steamboat near Port Rich- 
mond, transferred the president and some of his cabinet who were wi^h him to the committee's 
own boat and went down the river at leisurely speed while crowds on the bank cheered lustily 
until the Navy Yard was reached. There the president was transferred to the steamer Robert 
Morris, of the Baltimore Line, and continued his journey. His death, some months after, led to 
the fixing a day for mortuary ceremonies such as had been held for President William Henry 
Harrison, and which were celebrated with all due solemnity on July 30, 1850. The funeral car 
was a catafalque, fifteen feet high, of black cloth, white satin and deep silver fringe. It was 
drawn by eight white horses led by grooms. Militia and fire companies, with civic organizations, 
made a procession twenty-six blocks in length. 

Fire in a warehouse in Water Street, below Vine Street, on July 9, 1850, was one of the 
most disastrous of that era. It began in the part of the warehouse occupied by a firm dealing 
in pressed hay and extended to other parts of the building in which quantities of sulphur and 
saltpeter were stored. There was a great explosion, which sent blazing timbers, bricks, stones 
and pieces of metal in all directions, some falling blocks away. Men were blown from the 
wharves into the river, and people were killed by the concussion in adjoining houses and in the 
streets. The flames and smoke covered a wide area like a pall; houses were on fire all about. 
People in that and adjoining sections prepared their elTects to flee from a general conflagra- 
tion. The entire fire forces of the city, aided by contingents from the fire departments of New 
York, Newark, Baltimore and other cities, fought \-aliantly and had the fire under control on 
the following morning. There were 367 stores and dwelling houses entirely consumed, several 
more were badly injured and the burned area extended from Callowhill to \'ine Streets and 
from the river front to Second Street. Twenty-eight persons, including some firemen, were killed 
and fifty-eight were injured in the fire. 

The Assembly Building, which had been constantly used from 1839 for concerts, balls and 
lectures, was burned in another fire on March 18, 1851. It was located at Tenth and Chestnut 
Streets, and the freezing of water in the plugs and in the hose, together with a heavy snow that 
was falling, made the firemen's work to save adj oining property very difiicult. There were other 
serious fires that year, including one on November 12 in a cotton mill at Twenty-third and Ham- 
ilton Streets, in which the employes were shut up as in a trap. Many were burned to death, while 
others were badly injured by jumping from the building. 

The Musical Fund Hall, which was in use for an elaborate subscription dinner to Louis 
Kossuth on December 26, 1851, at which the famous Hungarian made an elaborate address, 
burst into flames a short time after the guests had departed, and the hall, as well as a buildinir 
belonging to Abraham Hart, on the northeast corner of Sixth and Chestnut Streets, and the 
Shakespeare Building, on the northwest corner, was destroyed. It was a bitterly cold night, 
and here again the firemen's operations were badly hampered by freezing in the pipes. The 
ruins of this fire were still smoking on December 30, in the afternoon of which day Barnum's 
Museum, at the southeast corner of Sevent h and Chestnut Streets, a block away, was 
destroyed. 

Early in 1852 the city had a distinguished visitor in the person of Granville John Penn, a 
great-grandson of the founder of the province of Pennsylvania. He was cordially received 



244 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



and feted, and by resolution of councils, on January 15, was invited to meet the corporation in 
the Hall of Independence; and was also invited to many of the finest homes of Philadelphia. 
In return for the many civilities he received, he gave a fete champetre at his own mansion, 
"Solitude," and grounds on the west side of the Schuylkill, below Grant Avenue. It was a 
very successful affair. 

Henry Clay died in Washington on June 29. 1852. The remains were brought to Phila- 
delphia, arriving July 2, and were received at the Southwestern depot of the Philadelphia, 
Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad by a large concourse of citizens. Some leading Philadel- 
phians designated as pallbearers accompanied the coffin to Independence Hall and the City 
Troop acted as guard of honor. Members of the Philadelphia Hose Company, bearing lighted 
torches, surrounded the hearse, it being evening when the remains arrived. Following the hearse 
were forty-six tire companies and many citizens, also bearing torches, of which more than 3000 
were in line. The coffin was deposited in Independence Hall, and the Light Artillery Corps 




Academy of Fine Arts — i860 



(Washington Grays) kept watch over it all night, and the next day the hall, draped in mourn- 
ing, was opened to the people who, in great numbers, passed through and viewed the catafalque 
and settings. Afterward, the coffin, followed by a civic procession, was carried to the waiting 
steamboat Trenton, draped in black, which carried the honored body, in its coffin, to its farther 
destination. No citizen of the country was held in higher honor in Philadelphia than was Henry 
Clay. Perhaps the next highest statesmen in public esteem in the city was Daniel Webster, who 
died at Marshfield, Mass., on October 24 of the same year. In Philadelphia, on the day of 
the funeral at Marshfield, October 26, the bells of the State House, St. Peter's Church and 
Christ Church were tolled. Stores were very generally closed and Independence Hall was 
draped in black, inside and out, while flags in the city and harbor were at half mast. 

In July, 1853, President Franklin Pierce, who had been in New York for the opening of 
the Crystal Palace exhibition, passed through the city attended by his Secretary of War, Jeffer- 
son Davis, and his Attorney General, Caleb Gushing. They were received with customary 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 245 

salutes, the display of flags, a military procession, a reception at Independence Hall, a dinner 
given by councils at the Merchants' Hotel and other ceremonies. 

A meeting, well attended, was held in January. 1853. in favor of the creation of a paid fire 
department. The volunteers did good service on occasion, but a very rough class of men domi- 
nated many of the companies. Many reasons existed in favor of the substitution of a paid fire 
department, but the fire companies were very powerful politically, and although the need of a 
]xaid fire department was more and more manifest every year, the change was not made 
until 1871. 

Philadelphia had another visitation of yellow fever in 1853. The epidemic prevailed from 
July 19 to October 12. There were 170 cases and 128 deaths. 

For years there had been agitation, more or less active, for the consolidation of the city 
and the many outside districts of Philadelphia county into one great city. Candidates for the 
legislature would speak favorably of the idea, but forget all about it when they reached Harris- 
burg. But a stronger efifort was made in 1853, and the friends of consolidation made up their 
minds to secure definite and well-evidenced promises of support for the bill if elected, and 
enough w^re elected to insure a vigorous fight for the measure. The efifort was successful, and 
on February 2, 1854, the bill was passed by which the city of Philadelphia, as limited by the 
charter of 1789, was enlarged by taking in all the territory contained within the county of Phila- 
delphia. The municipalities outside of the old .:ity were abolished and their rights, franchises 
and public properties were transferred to the city of Philadelphia. This included the districts of 
Southwark. Northern Liberties, Kensington, Spring Garden, Moyamensing. Penn, Richmond. 
West Philadeplhia and Belmont, the boroughs of Frankford. Germantown. Manayunk, White- 
hall. Bridesburg and Aramingo. and the townships of Passyunk. Blockley, Kingsessing. Rox- 
borough, Germantown, Bristol, Oxford, Lower Dublin, Moreland, Northern Liberties. Byberry, 
Delaware and Penn. 

The passage of the bill was exultingly celebrated. The governor, members of the Assembly 
and State officers were guests. They were put on a steamboat March 11, 1854, and taken on an 
inspection of the water front, and a dinner was served in the cabin at which speeches were 
made by leading citizens and State officials. In the evening there was a consoHdation l)all in 
the Chinese Museum, at which over 3000 people were present, filling both halls. A dinner 
was given in the Sansom Street Hall on March 12 to the governor and other distingiushed guests, 
Morton McMichael presiding. The celebration was successful, and the people were in rejoicing 
mood over the creation of a greater Philadelphia. 

The act of consolidation divided the city into twenty-four wards, provided that the first elec- 
tion under the new charter should be held on the first Tuesday in June, and city elections there- 
after on the first Tuesday in May. The Whigs nominated Judge Robert T. Conrad and the 
Democrats Richard \'aux. The Whig party, as a national entity, was politically dead, and locally 
was little more than a convenient name for a group of opponents of the Democracy. But at that 
time there was a political force of uncertain but formidable size operating largely under cover. 
From the early forties there had been a considerable section of the electorate who believed in 
restriction upon immigration either for political or religious reasons, or both. It had taken 
aggressive form in the Native American movement, but that operated almost entirely in local 
fields. The later development was not so much in the open, but it was thorough. It had no 
use for the foreigner. If interrogated as to the strength or policies of the party, its adherents 
professed to be uninformed. So they came to be knowai as "Know-Nothings." This vote went 
to Judge Conrad, who won the mayoralty by a vote of 29,507 to 21,011 for Vaux. 

Beginning his administration on the first Monday in July, Mayor Conrad begun a most diffi- 
cult work, for it was his executi\-c task to co-ordinate and consolidate the activities and municipal 



246 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



properties of what had been twenty-nine constituent locaHties. This inckided. in addition to the 
property of the old city, the gas and water works, town hall, schools, bridges, markets, hospitals, 
prisons, poorhouses, wharves and piers, real estate and many other things that called for sound 
judgment in dealing properly with them: streets to rename and renumber, public utilities to be 
reorganized to make them serviceable to the interest of the entire city. 

Mayor Conrad worked diligently at these tasks, but was emphatically Know-Nothing in his 
policies, and he was backed by councils, largely in sympathy with him. He appointed native 
Americans to the offices. He vigorously enforced the excise and Sabbath laws, and aroused 
much opposition, so that when his two-year term expired he was not renominated. 

James Buchanan, who had been the American minister in England since 1853, was return- 
ing, and some of his supporters asked for the use of Independence Hall for a reception. But 
there was a political opposition in councils which prevented the granting of this request and the 
celebration was changed to the Merchants' Exchange. 

In the city election in May, 1856, Richard V'aux was the Democratic candidate again and 
was elected by a vote of 29,534. to 25,545 for Henry D. Moore, the Whig candidate, and the 
last to run under that designation. William D. Thomas, the candidate of the newly created Re- 
publican party, was not in the running, polling a very small vote, and Richard Vaux, Democrat, 
and sturdy opponent of Know-Nothingism, was the mayor for the next two years. Politics was 
getting to be of absorbing interest. The nation was getting uneasy and the South dissatisfied. In 
the greater city there was a prodigious work of reorganization that taxed the talents and genius 
of the men in charge of afifairs and called for c mstructive planning. 

Philadelphia had become a great city, and the evolution of good government demanded the 
energies and vigilance of men who were both sagacious and loyal. The greater city had become 
an accomplished fact and a going concern. 







Christ Church 



C H A P T E R 



EIGHTEEN 



IN THE SHADOW OF APPROACHING WAR— EVENTS 

IN PHILADELPHIA FROM THE CONSOLIDATION 

TO THE TIME OF THE WAR FOR THE UNION 

It was a severe winter upon which the year 1855 opened, but a harder one the next year. 
The Delaware was frozen over from bank to bank with a thick crust that allowed skating and 
sleighing o-vcr its surface for weeks. Booths were put up, in which various wares were vended, 
and g<unl)kI■^ nuUiccd the sportnig ckMiient to try their fortune in games of chance. (3n January 

26 a sleigh containing 'iwii ])e()pk' broke through 
an airhole in the river and two of the occupants, 
women, were drowned. After the weather began 
to moderate the river was blocked by ice until 
kite in March. Ferryljoats made the i)erilous 
jjassage earlier, but a ferryboat crossing from 
Walnut Street wharf to Camden caught fire on 
March 15. The ditficulty of managing the boat 
was so great, because of ice obstructions, that, 
although it reached within a few feet of the 
shore, thirty out of the hundred })assengers were 
drowned. 

But in those early days of steamboats and 
steam railroads it did not need the accessory of 
ice blockades to make travel dangerous. Explo- 
sions were quite frec[ucnt. A Ijoiler explosion on 
the lower Delaware in May, 1856. killed four 
men. In July, 1855. the steam])oat John Stevens 
caught fire in the river in front of Philadelphia 
and five negroes lost their lives in the flames. 
Accidents on the railroads also happened often. 
The Camden and Amboy Railroad was the scene 
of many. On August 29, 1855, a collision oc- 
curred on this road. al)Ove Burlington. X. J., in 
which twenty-three ])ersons were killed and about 
fifty injured. Among the victims were the 
French consul and mruiy prominent people of 
Philadelphia. On July 17, 1856, a worse accident 
occurred on the North I'enn road. About 600 
peo])le. most of them children, boarded a tram 
at Shackamaxon Dejwt for a jileasant day in the 
country. Thirteen miles out this train was in a head-on collision with a train from (iwynedd. 
fire quickly spreading from the engines to the cars. From the wreck more tlian sixty dead and 
one hundred injured people were taken. 

The political situation was considerablv mixed. The \Miig party, with Clay and Webster 
eliminated, broke up into factions, but gained strength locally by combination with the Know- 
Xothings. Know-Nothingism was a development of the Native American party, and had re- 




Terraces— Lemon- Hill 



248 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

cruited its f(3llo\ving from both of the old parties. In combination with the Whigs it had. as we 
have seen, won the election of Judge Robert T. Conrad, the city's first mayor under the consolida- 
tion. In the spring of 1855 there was an election on the 1st of May for city treasurer and city 
commissioner, at which there were tickets designated, respectively, as "Know-Nothing," "Anti- 
Know-Nothing," "Regular Whig." "Clay Whig," "Whigs and Americans,'' "People's Reform- 
ers" and "Citizens' Reformers." Two of the "Know-Nothing" party were elected by small 
majorities. 

Nationally, the question of the extension of slavery to the territories of the West had 
created a cleavage in both the old parties. The Northern Whigs had acceded with great repug- 
nance to the new fugitive slave law of 1850, and the feelings of these and other opponents of 
slavery extension were constantly exasperated by the enforcement of the law in the free States. 
The Kansas-Nebraska bill of May, 1854, had crystalHzed the opposition in a formidable unit 
composed of a large proportion of anti-slavery Whigs, such as Lincoln, Seward and Greeley ; of 
Free-Soilers, like Sumner, Hale and Julian; of Know-Nothings. like Colfax, Wilson and Banks; 
anti-slavery Democrats, like Cameron, Hamlin and W'illiam Cullen Bryant, and by some Aboli- 
tionists, although these were impatient with the stated purpose not to interfere with slavery as 
an institution where it already existed, as announced by leaders of the new party. 

Before the partv was organized its proponents quite generally agreed that it should be called 
the Republican party. It was a name to conjure with, for it was the name of the party which 
controlled the country without serious opposition during the tirst quarter of the nineteenth cen- 
tury. The new party was first organized as a State ]:)arty in Michigan, adopting the name "Re- 
publican" on July 6, 1854. In August, 1855. largely through the activity of William B. 
Thomas, an extensive floiu' miller, a local Republican organization was efi^ected in Philadelphia. 
Thomas had been a Democrat, but the attitude of the party on the extension of slavery had 
alienated him from the Democratic party. He became Republican nominee for mayor of Phila- 
delphia in 1856. 

The American ("Know-Nothings") party held their national convention in Philadelphia 
on February 22, 1856, nominating Millard Fillmore, of New York, for president, and Andrew 
Jackson Donelson, of Tennessee, for vice president. The national Republican party held its first 
national convention in Musical Fund Hall. Philadelphia, on June 16, 1856. and nominated John 
Fremont, of California, for ])resident, and William L. Dayton, of New Jersey, for vice presi- 
dent, with practically no opposition, though the Illinois delegation offered the name of Abraham 
Lincoln for the vice |)residential nomination. The platform adopted by that convention declared 
it to be "lioth the right and the duty of Congress to prohibit in the Territories those twin relics 
of barbarism, jiolvgamy and slavery," demanded the immediate admission of Kansas as a free 
State and incorjwrated a ])lank, especially acceptable to the WHiigs, in favor of internal improve- 
ments at government expense, including the construction of a railway to the Pacific. 

Following the American bad habit, local politics trailed along in the rut made by national 
campaigners, and in Philadelphia, as elsewhere, partyism has often been the parent of civic in- 
efiiciency. Joseph T. Conrad, who had been chosen mayor of the consolidated city in 1854, was 
a painstaking executive, who worked with boldness and intelligence for the best civic ideals as 
he saw them. But that he was strongly imbued with nativistic or "Know-Nothing" principles 
is shown by the fact that one of the requirements of membership in the police force under him 
was that the jjoliceman must b? of "American birth," a requirement which, applied to the 
police force of most of the larger American cities (including Philadelphia), in later days would 
have decimated them. Another prominent feature of Mayor Conrad's administration was his 
rigid enforcement of Sunday and temperance laws. This course, and especially the way he 
applied it in support of a new law prohibi ing the sale of intoxicating liquors on Sunday, 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 249 



brought to the mayor and the "Americans" the active and organized opposition of the Hquor 
interests, and, correspondingly, the support of the Temperance and AboHtionist people. The can- 
didates of the Democratic party for the of^ces of the Democratic party for the offices of Phila- 
delphia county in the October election were all successful, very much to the surprise of the can- 
didates themselves, who had expected the coalition of the American party with the Temperance 
and Abolition forces to be too strong for them to overcome. But instead they had won by about 
1500 majority each. 

The same issues were carried over to the spring election in May, 1856, when a new mayor 
was to be elected. The American party named Henry D. Moore ; the Democrats, Richard \'aux ; 
the Whigs. John Thompson, and the Republicans, A. B. Thomas. The Whig nomination was 
withdrawn in favor of Mr. Moore, and the Republican candidates polled only a small vote. Rich- 
ard \'aux and his companions on the Democratic ticket won by a plurality of more than 4000 
votes. The Republican vote, soon to become so potent, was only a small one. The fight was made 
on the issue of Know-Nothingism chiefly, although the Sunday liquor bill also figured in the 
contest, in which the saloonkeepers took an aggressive part. 

The presidential campaign was especially a lively one, with the advantage, in Pennsylvania 
at least, in favor of the Democratic party, which had nominated a very popular Democrat, [ames 
Buchanan, of Lancaster, for the presidency. Leading among the promoters of his candidacv 
was John W. Forney, who. having been editor of the Lancaster Intelligencer and a leader in local 
politics, had branched out into an active place in State politics. Being appointed by President 
Polk collector of the port of Philadelphia in 1845. he sold his Lancaster paper and later bought 
a half interest in the Pennsylvanian. which he made a leading organ of Democracy and bore an 
aggressive lance in every political fray. His work in the Pierce campaign in 1852 was acknowl- 
edged to be of great help to the party. He was elected clerk of the national house of representa- 
tives, and in that capacity it became his dutv to preside over the house during the long struggle 
over the speakership, which took place in 1855, and finally resulted in the election of Nathaniel 
P. Banks as speaker. In 1856 he was in the forefront of the Buchanan campaign, being chairman 
of the Democratic State Committee. In that capacity he secured the interest of the great Demo- 
cratic party orators, who all visited the State to help the Buchanan canvass. The State went 
Democratic in the October election for State officers by 3000 majority, and in November 
Buchanan carried the State. He also carried New York. Pennsylvania, Indiana and Illinois and 
all the slave States, except Maryland, which gave its eight electoral votes to the Fillmore-Donel- 
son ticket. All the free States, except the four indicated above, gave their electoral votes to Fre- 
mont and Dayton (aggregating 114). while Jam?s Buchanan, for president, and John C. Breckin- 
ridge, of Kentucky, for vice president, carried the election, with 174 electoral votes. The popular 
vote was: 1,838.169 for Buchanan ; 1.341.264 for Fremont and S'74,838 for Fillmore. The 
"American" ( Know-Nothing) party was dead, and the Republican party astounded the country 
by the vigor of its growth. 

After the election John W. Forney was the caucus nominee of the Democracy for United 
States senator, and was expecting election because the Democrats had a majority of the legis- 
lature on joint ballot. Simon Cameron, who had been senator from Pennsylvania as a Democrat 
from 1845 to 1849, had, at the close of his term, organized what he called the People's party, 
whose chief plank was in favor of a high tariff' on imports. This he had merged in 1855 with 
the new Republican party, and he became the nominee of the Republicans in the Pennsylvania 
legislature in 1857. He received the vote of that party and of Representatives Maneer and Lebo, 
of York county, and Wagenseller, of Schuylkill county. The denunciations of the treachery of 
these three men, elected as Democrats, were deep and scathing, and they were openly charged 
with having been corrupted by Cameron's money. They were ostracised by their former party 



250 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

associates and were not in favor with even opposition politicians. For years no hotel in Harris- 
burg would receive either of them. 

Among native Philadelphians. Dr. Elisha Kent Kane was one highly honored. Among 
Arctic explorers his name still shines as that of one who greatly added to the world's knowl- 
edge of those regions. After having been on one previous Arctic expedition, under command of 
Lieutenant E. J. De Haven, he organized one which, in fruitfulness of geographic result, was the 
most important which had ever been sent out. His death early in 1857 at Havana, Cuba, was 
followed by a meeting on February 27, at which Mayor Vaux presided, when prominent men 
of science, army and navy officers and distinguished citizens were named as pallbearers. The body 
was received at the Baltimore depot on March 11, and a military escort attended its removal to 
Independence Hall, where it lay in state. It was view^ed by thousands of people the next day, 
and a very large procession of military and civic organizations accompanied the body to the 
Second Presbyterian Church, on Seventh Street below Arch Street, where a funeral sermon was 
preached by Rev. C. W. Shields. The burial was at Laurel Hill. 

In the fall months of 1857 Philadelphia experienced a financial panic, which began with the 
closing of the Bank of Pennsylvania on September 25, and the same day the Girard and Com- 
mercial Banks declared a suspension of specie payments. Great alarm was felt by the business 
community. The panic was general throughout the country, and there was great distress from 
non-employment and the shutting down of mills and factories. The legislature passed a law 
legalizing the suspension of specie payments ; the city, which had been previously practicing 
economies in an effort to cut down expenditures, reversed its policy and adopted a program of 
building and improvement in order to provide employment for the unemployed. Bread lines were 
established by charitably disposed people, and though there was a considerable amount of dis- 
tress, it was not so severe as had been expected, partly because of this charitable spirit largely 
possessed by the wealthier citizens, but also because, as it turned out, the winter was a phenom- 
enally mild one. 

There had been a good deal of discussion as to the feasibility of street railways as a solvent 
of the local transportation problem in Philadelphia. It raged as a controversy of much antag- 
onism in the press and before committees in the legislature. Finally, however, the General 
Assembly, in May, 1857, empowered the Philadelphia and Delaware River Railroad Company to 
lay tracks on Fifth and Sixth streets, from Frankford to Southwark. The company went to 
work and had the tracks laid by the end of the year, and on January 8 the first car passed over 
the tracks. The owners of omnibuses created a difficulty with the company, which was settled by 
the purchase of their vehicles by the railroad corporation and the regular service on the road, 
which extended 7^ miles from Chatham Street south to Morris Street. The fare was 5 cents, 
and the poj^ularity of this new method of locomotion was such that the road was making $600 
per day. This prosperity brought a decided rush for franchises for other lines, but there was 
much public opposition to these new enterprises. It was contended that the streets w^ere too 
narrow for railways, and the freight railways, which had long been running along Market and 
Third Streets, and constituted a nuisance which the business community had long and vainly 
endeavored to have removed, was pointed to as an object lesson in the undesirability of railroads 
of any kind on the public streets. 

John W. Forney, after the defeat of his ambition for a senatorship, founded the Philadel- 
phia Press. He was frankly without capital sufficient for such a venture, but he bought the type 
on credit, and. having no machinery, he arranged for the presswork to be done in the office of 
the Sunday Dispatch. The first number, a four-page folio, appeared on August 1, 1857. It was 
a vigorous Democratic sheet, and continued so until President Buchanan essayed to impose the 
"Lecompton Constitution" on the people of Kansas. This was a document which had been 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 251 

framed by the pro-slavery faction at a conventio;i at Leconipton, Kan., in September, 1857, with 
a clatise provi(lin,c^ that "the rights of proi^erty in slaves now in the Territory shall in no manner 
be interfered with." and forbiddint,^ any amendment of the instrimient until 1864. There had 
already been adopted, by a popular vote, in 1855, a constitution that made Kansas a free labor 
State, but President Pierce had declared in a message to Congress on January 24, 1856, that 
the act of the legal voters of a Territory in framing a constitution without an enabling act was 
rebellion. The Leconipton instrument, submitte 1 to the people of Kansas, was rejected by 10,CXX)" 
majority. 

Buchanan, siding with the pro-slavery faction, in this way alienated himself from the large 
section of the j)arty that, following Stephen A. Douglas, believed' that "Congress should neither 
legislate slavery into any Territories or State, nor out of the same ; but the people shall be left 
to regulate their domestic concerns in their own way, subject only to the constitution of the 
United States." John W. Forney held this doctrine, and did not hesitate to express, in the 
columns of the Press, the disfavor with which the announced purpose of the president to force 
the Leconipton constitution on the Kansans was received by a large section of the Democratic 
party. This distrust was even more strongly expressed at a meeting in National Hall composed 
of Democrats who had voted for Buchanan in 1856, and presided over by Mr. Forney. It 
declared "inexorable opposition to all attempts to force the Leconipton constitution on the 
people of Kansas." The breach between Buchanan and Forney grew wider, and, though the editor 
was almost overwhelmed by the storm of disapproval which the mails brought him, he stood 
his ground manfully and carried with him a large contingent of former Democrats who became 
active in the Republican party. 

The mayoralty election of 1858 showed the strong drift of Philadelphia toward the new 
party. Richard Vaux, the mayor, was Democratic candidate for re-election. Opposed to him 
was Alexander Henry, who was nominated on a people's ticket which made a special issue of 
the bad police administration. Mayor Vaux had, in most respects, made an efficient mayor, but 
he had permitted the police force to be under the control of the politicians. The Repubhcan 
party, strong and vigorous, indorsed Mr. Henry, and the American party — nationally dead, but 
locally still an element to be reckoned with — followed suit. The combination was too strong for 
the Democrats to overcome. Henry was elected by more than 4000 majority, and the rest of his 
ticket by about 3000. The same combination was successful in the congressional election in the 
fall of 1858, when the Republican and American parties coalesced on a People's ticket, which 
elected four out of five of their nominees to Congress for the city districts, and also elected 
William A. Kern sheriff by 5000 majority. 

Fourteen charters for street railways were granted in 1858, and track-laying went on in 
all sections of the city. The city councils in November, 1858, ordered the removal of the market 
sheds which occupied the middle of Market Street and gave it its name. This was effected 
without much friction, the butchers erecting a new market-house in Seventh Street, of which 
Mayor Henrv laid the cornerstone on November 15. 

For some years the street cars of Philadelphia were not run on Sundays. Efforts to do so 
on the Green and Coates Street line in 1859 led to forceful opposition. A driver was arrested for 
breach of the peace and threats were made to tear up the tracks. The company, therefore, de- 
sisted from further efforts in that direction. It was not until 1867 that the Union Passenger 
Railway Company secured a decision of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania affirming the com- 
l)any's right to run cars on Sunday. The right of negroes to ride in the cars, which had been 
strenuously denied from the first, was made secure l)y an act of the (leneral Assemljly passed 
March 22, 1867. 



252 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

Stephen A. Douglas visited Philadelphia on January 3. 1859, and met a rousing reception 
from the "Douglas Democrats," who, under the vigorous inspiration of Forney, had become 
quite numerous. As he landed at the Walnut Street wharf an elaborate pyrotechnic display w^as 
made on Smith's Island. He was escorted to the St. Lawrence Hotel, where he was serenaded 
and delivered a speech. The next day he held a public reception, which was very largely 
attended, in Independence Hall. 

The questions connected with the institution of slavery were very much in the public mind. 
They bristled in the Kansas situation and they were brought home to Northern cities by the efforts 
made to invoke the aid of the United States courts in the execution of the fugitive slave law. 
Such a case occurred in Philadelphia in relation to Daniel Dangerfield, a colored man who was 
claimed by certain residents of Virginia to be a runaway slave. The case came up on April 4 
before United States Commissioner Longstreth. The Virginia complainants were represented by 
Benjamin Harris Brewster, and on behalf of Dangerfield local Abolitionists had retained George 
H. Earle, William S. Pierce and Edward Hopper. The case was adjourned until the next day, 
when a crowd assembled that filled the ofiice of the commissioner (among which was a group 
of the city's prominent Abolitionists, headed by Lucretia Mott), and a large concourse in the 
the street outside. Examination of witnesses and arguments of counsel went on through the 
entire night. Mr. Pierce, in the final argument for the negro, finished just as the sun rose, 
and Mr. Brewster followed with the closing argument. The commissioner announced a recess 
until afternoon, when he would render his decision. When the session was resumed, the com- 
missioner discharged the prisoner, holding that his identity had not been fully established. The 
decision was hailed with great enthusiasm by the anti-slavery people, and Dangerfield, placed in 
a carriage, was driven through the streets in trimnph. 

The raid of John Brown on Harper's Ferry, and his execution on December 2, 1<S59, roused 
a storm of indignation in local anti-slavery circles, who held meetings of protest amid the hisses 
and groans of Southern sympathizers and would have l)een broken up by violence except for 
excellent police protection. The Abolitionists were emphatically in the minority. The merchants 
of the city, enjoying a lucrative Southern trade, held meetings to express their hostility to the 
John Brown movement. A meeting held December 7 at Jayne's Hall was one of the largest that 
had been held in the city, which made strong resolutions, and listened to stronger speeches, 
in favor of the Southern side of the controversy. 

During 1860 the question of slavery was further emphasized. On March 27 Judge Cad- 
walader remanded Moses Horner, said to l)e a runaway slave, to his Southern owner. On his 
way to the prison there was an eiTort made l)v a negro mob to rescue Horner from the police. 

A new hotel, which was the iiride of the city as the largest in the United States, opened on 
February 20, 1860, and to it all distinguished visitors were brought. Especially interesting 
was the first Japanese embassy to the United States. They were met by city officials, 2000 
troops, cavalry and infantry, and were greeted, it was said, by about 500,000 people on their way 
from the Baltimore Depot to the hotel. They were entertained in the city for about a week. 
Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, who afterward became Edward ATI of Great Britain, was a 
visitor in October. He also stayed at the Continental Hotel. 

There were other matters of this pleasant kind, but the chief interest of 1860 was in the 
political contest, which engrossed deepest attention. The question of slavery was prominent. 
But the fate of the Union was even more important, for there were murmurings of possible dis- 
ruption in case of a result of the approachmg election construed as unfavorable to the interests 
of the Southern States. There were hotheads North as well as South, and the fires of sec- 
tionalism burned hotter week bv week as the contest went on. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



253 




Philadelphia Police and Fire Stations 



254 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Parties were disintegrating. There were divisions in the Democratic ranks. The Repub- 
hcan partv was young and optimistic, but perhaps the optimism of youth had led to overcon- 
tidence. Then the men who had been Filhuore men were not satisfied to be merged into the Demo- 
cratic party, nor to be absorbed by the Repubhcans. So on January 14 they made an occasion 
for a gathering of their clans Ijy a dinner given to Bailie Peyton, of Tennessee, in the Academy 
of Music, floored over for the purpose, at which there were 700 diners. The gathering was 
addressed by John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky ; Horace Maynard, of Tennessee ; Thomas W. Gil- 
mer, of South Carolina, and Morton McMichael, of Philadelphia. This dinner was. in effect, the 
organization of the local forces representing the movement for a Constitutional Union party, 
which later nominated John Bell and Edward Everett for president and vice president. 

The spring campaign for the mayoralty election resulted in the same way as that in 1858. 
Mayor Henry was the candidate of the People's party, including the Republicans. John Rob- 
bins was the Democratic nominee. Mayor Henry was re-elected. 

The presidential contest Ijrought to Philadelphia many of the leading orators of all the 
jKirties, and the campaign was one of unprecedented excitement. The People's party, as it was 
still known in Philadelphia, gave enthusiastic support to Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, and Han- 
nibal Hamlin, of Maine, as candidates for president and vice president, and Andrew Curtin for 
governor. The party was fortunate in having secured for this campaign a thoroughly capable 
leader in Alexander K. McClure as chairman of the State committee. 

The Democratic party had split. One faction nominated Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, 
for president and Herschel V. Johnson, of Georgia, for vice president ; the other nominated Vice 
President Tohn C. Breckenridge, of Kentucky, for president and Joseph Lane, of Oregon, for 
vice president. Both factions were, however, united in support of Henry D. Foster for governor, 
who was also favored by the Bell and Everett partisans. But in the October election the Repub- 
licans carried Andrew Curtin to victory by 30,030 majority, and in the November election the 
triumph of Mr. Lincoln was even more complete, as Philadelphia gave him a majority of more 
than 2000 over all three of his competitors, and in the State he had about 90.000 plurality and 
60.000 majority. The vote in the city was 39,223 for Lincoln; Douglas and Breckinridge to- 
gether, 30,053,' and Bell had 7131. 

The immediate attitude of the South, after the election of Lincoln became known, boded 
peril to the Lhiion. In Philadelphia councils voiced the timidity of a large part of the people 
over the prospect expressing the fear that "serious peril of the dissolution of the union of these 
States, under whose protection we have grown to be a great and prosperous nation," and 
asked the mayor to call a mass meeting "to counsel together to avert the danger which threatens 
our country." The meeting was called and met in Independence Square, numbering about 50.000. 
Mayor Henry presided. Bishop Potter prayed ; Joseph R. Ingersoll. Supreme Court Justice 
George W. Woodward, Theodore Cuyler and others spoke. The spirit of compromise domi- 
nated the meeting. Resohitions were adopted wliich expressed the same spirit. They advised 
that the statute book of the State should be searched for the repeal of "every statute which in 
the slightest degree invaded the constitutional rights of citizens of a sister State." The recom- 
mendations included one advocating a new law awarding damages out of county funds to the 
owner who should discover his slave in that county; another advising cheerful submission to the 
decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, including the Dred Scott decision, and 
cautioning against all denunciations of slavery as "inconsistent with the spirit of brotherhood 
and kindness." Only a week after this meeting South Carolina voted itself out of the Union. 
Discussion became heated. L^^on the one side were those who called themselves "anti- 
coercionists," who advocated concessions to win the South back, and, upon the other side, those 
who advised early recourse to the strong hand to suppress every manifestation of disloyalty to 



THE STORY OF /'// 1 L.I / >liLPU /.I 



255 



the Union. The visit of the i^rcsident-elect to the city on February 21 and 22 broiic^ht a s^reat 
ovation. He was met at the Kensington Depot and taken under a lar^^e escort of mounted 
poHce. public officials and citizens, by a circuitous route, to the Continental Hotel through deco- 
rated streets densely crowded with cheerino: si)cctators. 

At Independence Hall Lincoln was greeted on the 22d by a great audience. He raised 
there a new Hag with thirty-four stars, one having just been added to represent the State of 
Kansas. He made an address, and as the flag was released the strains of "The Star-Spangled 
Banner" roused the audience to patriotic fervor. 

That evening the president-elect entered a l)arouche to meet a train which to carry him 
on b,is journey. He was to have gone to Baltim )rc, but .Man I'inkcrton, the famous detective, 
who accompanied hiin. received information of a plot against Lincoln's life in that city, and 
late at night the distinguished Illinoisan returnecl to the city and with his friend, Ward Lamon. 
boarded a sleeping coach at Broad and Prime Streets, reaching Washington before daylight on 
the 23d. He was expected at Baltimore, but rested at the Willard Hotel. The inauguration 
which placed Mr. Lincoln at the head of the nation became an accomplished fact on March 4, 
and his policy was formed. On April 12 Fort Sumter was fired upon by the South Carolinians; 
the president called for 75,000 men for three months' enlistment and convened Congress in extra 
session. 

Philadelphia at once ranged itself l)ehind the president. Governor Curtin. in the State, and 
Mayor Henry, in the city, took a position of uncompromising loyalty. The legislature appro- 
priated $500,000 for war purposes and Major General Robert Patterson called for recruits. 
Light regiments were made up in the city in A])ril and .May. Philadelphia had definitely taken 
its stand for the L'nion. 




Academy of Natur.al Sciences 



CHAPTER NINETEEN 



IN THE THROES OF CIVIL WAR, PHILADELPHIA 
NOBLY RESPONDS TO APPEAL FOR MEN 
AND MONEY 

The election of Lincoln in 1860 passed off quietly in Philadelphia, but the immediate 
eft'ect on the business of the city was very disturbing to the banking interests and some others, 
though most of the manufacturing activities of the city were for a considerable period un- 
affected. The banks of Philadelphia, because of disturbed monetary relations between North 
and South, declared a suspension of si)ecie payments on November 22, 1860. The suspension 
was generally regarded as quite justifiable, but was expected to be merely temporary. A meet- 
ing of manufacturers and business men of Philadelphia and vicinity, held December 1, recom- 
mended, in view of the business depression, that manufacturers of cotton and woolen goods 
should run their mills at half time until increased sales or reduced stocks should again justify 
full-time production. A resolution was also adopted declaring that it was no longer possible to 
sell domestic dry goods on eight or ten months' credit. 

The New Year opened with a general feeling of alarm because of the news that Major 
Anderson and his Union forces were being besieged by secessionists at Fort Sumter, with 
demands to surrender the fort, and numerous meetings were held at which citizens, without dis- 
tinction or party, declared their Union sentiments and their opposition to secession as a means of 
settlement of sectional grievances, although there were also other meetings, under the name of 
"anti-coercionists," which were in favor of conciliation and compromise. Some of the extrem- 
ists of that faction, though, admitted the right of a State to secede and declared that neither 
the president nor Congress had power to declare war against a sovereign State. Scarcely a day 
intervened between meetings called to express sentiments with regard to the threatened conflict, 
sentiments which ranged all the way from those eager for war against the South to those who 
would have conciliation by the repeal of all legislation obnoxious to Southern sentiment. 

After Lincoln's inauguration, as the certainty of secession became more pronounced and the 
hope of conciliation receded. Union sentiment became crystallized when, on April 12, 1861, news 
of the firing on Fort Sumter reached Philadelphia, and it was acknowledged by the people of all 
parties that the government should be sustained at all hazards. The few who remained pro- 
Southern, or, as the term went, "Copperhead." in sentiment were apt to keep their opinions quiet. 
Enthusiasm for the Union became military and recruiting of volunteer organizations to take 
part in the now inevitable war was active. On April 15 Major General Robert Patterson, com- 
manding the First Division of Pennsylvania Volunteers, issued an order calling attention to the 
president's proclamation asking for 75,000 volunteers, of which Pennsylvania's quota was six- 
teen regiments, of which six were required from Philadelphia. 

The Massachusetts Sixth Regiment, en route for Washington via Baltimore, was given a 
rousing reception as it marched through the streets, which were lined with cheering thousands, 
on April 18. 1861. and in the evening the regiment was entertained at the Continental Hotel. 
Before 3 o'clock on the morning of the 19th the regiment entrained at the Philadelphia, Wil- 
mington and Baltimore Depot and took the cars for Washington. The mobbing of this regiment 
in Baltimore, with the killing of three of the Massachusetts men and the death of eleven Balti- 
more citizens by the return fire of the soldiers before they finally succeeded in getting away en 
route to Washington, is one of the best-known incidents of the war. Eighteen hundred Philadel- 
phia volunteers, unarmed and without uniforms, who had left Philadelphia about an hour later 
than the Massachusetts troops, under command of General William F. Small, arrived in Balti- 



11 IE STORY OF PHILADRLPin.l 



257 




258 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



more soon after the trouble with the Massachusetts troops, and at the request of the g^overnor 
of Maryland and the mayor of Baltimore, remained in their cars at the depot. A mob gathered 
and threw missiles at the Philadelphians in their cars. Many of them sprang from the cars 
and engaged in hand-to-hand conflict with the assailants. But as the troops were not uniformed 
it was impossible to distinguish friends from foes. Marshal Kars, chief of police of Baltimore, 
arriving at the station, restored order and got the Pennsylvanians back on the cars, except 
twenty-eight who had become separated from the rest and were captured and held by secession- 
ists. The troops were returned to Philadelphia, and the twenty-eight, who after their capture 
had been held in jail at Belair, Md., were released after a day's imprisonment and escorted to the 
Pennsylvania State line, whence they proceeded to Philadelphia. The mob proceedings at Balti- 
more were regarded with great indignation in Philadelphia and led to increased determination 
to aid the Union cause. 

On the 19th the Eighth Massachusetts and on the 20th the Seventh New York regiments 
arrived in Philadelphia, and because of advices that the route via Baltimore was interrupted 
these two regiments went by boat to Annapolis, the Eighth Massachusetts taking a steamer at 
Havre de Grace and the Seventh the steamer Boston direct from Philadelphia. 

The women of Philadelphia, who were asked to aid in the equipment of troops, besieged 
the Girard House, named as headquarters, as volunteers to sew, knit or perform other womanlv 
offices. Troops passing through the city from New England, New York or New Jersey, as well 
as those of the Pennsylvania forces, were cheered from time to time as they passed through or 
embarked from Philadelphia. 

After Philadelphia had recruited the six regiments which were its quota of President Lin- 
coln's first requisition, others offered themselves and were organized into a State Reserve. Few 
in the North or South had any idea of the seriousness of the conflict into which they were enter- 
ing. Northern men thought that the South would soon be conquered. The South thought that 
"Yankees" were good traders, but no fighting men. Each side mutually underrated the foe. 
Neither side was prepared for the great conflict. The men to be procured were in vast major- 
ity untrained ; munitions, clothing, shoes and all the needs to equap and provision an army were 
scarce. The call for 75,000 men easily filled its quotas, but small as that army proved to be as 
compared with actual demands, it was still so large as to swamp the factories, and some of the 
new troops had a long wait for their uniforms, and the help which the volunteer sewing women 
gave was most welcome. 

As troops started away, weeping women saw them to the railway station, but soon the 
women of Philadelphia began to feel an impulse to "do their bit" in a way that would be a real 
help and encouragement to the soldiers. Early in May a few women, acting individually, began 
coming to the depot, bringing coffee and sandwiches for distribution to the soldiers as they 
passed through the city. Finally, this philanthropic custom became organized, and before the 
end of May two great refreshment halls, one known as the Cooper Shop, on Otsego Street near 
Washington Avenue, and the other as the Union Volunteer, at the corner of Delaware and 
Washington Avenues, were in friendly competition in the work of serving refreshments to 
soldiers who came from the New York boats to a depot which had been established at the foot 
of Washington Avenue so that troops brought by the New York boats could entrain for the 
South without marching through the city. 

Philadeljihia, which had during the recent y?ars fallen behind Boston and New York as a 
seat of financial operations, was brought to a much more prominent position through the activi- 
ties of Jay Cooke, a local banker, but a man of sturdy individuality and bold initiative. After 
the sixteen regiments called for in April had b^en raised by Pennsylvania, it was foreseen that 
the State would be called upon to supply manv more men. Governor Curtin. therefore, called 



THE STORY OT PHILADELPHIA 



259 




PHH.ADHI.PHrA SOCUCTIl'iS AMi ASSOCIATIONS 

I — Masonic Temple. 2 — Women's Christian Associatiuu. 3 — Odd Fellows' Temple. 
4 — Yonng Men's Christian .Association. 5 — Pennsylvania Railroad Branch Y. M. C. A. 



260 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

the legislature together to make provision for the emergency and it was decided to create a 
reserve of 10,000 men and authorize a $30,000,000 war loan at 6 per cent to supply the funds 
for creating and equipping the reserve. It was provided in the act creating the loan that it 
must be sold at par. This was regarded by the best banking opinion as an utterly impossible 
condition, and on that advice there was a proposition. But Jay Cooke, expressing willingness to 
sell the loan at par and staking his word of honor that he could do it, the bill was allowed to stand 
with the proviso in it. Jay Cooke's firm and that of Drexel & Co. were commissioned by Gov- 
ernor Curtin to sell the loan, and Jay Cooke threw his energy into the task and had it oversold 
in a fortnight. It was regarded as a remarkable achievement and the news of its accomplish- 
ment had a stimulating effect upon the sincere hope of Union men that the war would soon be 
over. 

But these hopes were to suffer a severe strain. Scott, in command of the army, was old 
and infirm and physically unable to take active command. General McDowell w^as therefore 
chosen for the active conduct of the troops. The Confederates were gathering in force at Manas- 
sas, Va. McDowell and his regiments went forth to give them battle. The people at Washing- 
ton, including several congressmen and people prominent in the social life of the city, were 
glad the battle was to be so near, as it gave them the opportunity to go .-js spectators and see 
the rebellion put down at one vigorous swoop. 

But it was largely an untrained army that went out on that day, as if to a sporting adven- 
ture. But the Confederates were, at that time, better generaled than the Union forces, and 
instead of a victory the battle was a disastrous defeat of the Union army and the soldiers were 
soon on a full run, dropping their guns and packs in wild stampede to Washington. Not all, for 
some units were halted and re-formed. But some of the soldiers whose three months' service 
was about to expire did not stop until they reached their homes. 

The battle was on Sunday, July 21, 1861. Among those escaping from the field was a 
reporter named Painter, of the Philadelphia Inquirer. In his haste he took a wrong direction 
and was brought up in the enemy lines. He posed as a hospital attendant and so was not cap- 
tured. Soon he saw a wounded horse running loose in the woods and he caught and mounted it, 
making his escape. He was joined by Edmund Clarence Stedman, who was reporting the war 
for the New York World, and they reached Washington early on Monday morning. Though 
almost worn out by his strenuous experiences, Painter took the first train to Philadelphia, told 
his story to the Inquirer staff, whom he had some trouble in convincing of its truth, and bulle- 
tins were put out and an "extra" was soon on the street with Painter's story. There was great 
indignation over the publication, which brought a crowd of people ready to wreck the Inquirer 
for publishing "Copperhead" news. But it was not long before the story was confirmed. 

Major General Pattison, who had long been in command of the entire militia of Pennsyl- 
vania, had been given a Federal commission and made department commander of the troops 
from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia. With the three months' 
men, he crossed the Potomac on June 15, 1861, and reached Winchester. Facing him was a 
large Confederate force under General Joseph E. Johnston. He wished to attack, but had 
orders from General Scott to make no movement unless explicitly ordered to do so. Thus he 
remained idle at Winchester with his troops while Johnston, reinforcing Beauregard, made the 
defeat of the Union army inevitable. General Pattison was much blamed for his inactivity, 
especially at home, but it was several years afterward before the fact of Scott's instructions to 
remain still until otherwise ordered, and that the order never came, was published and made Gen- 
eral Pattison's justification very plain. But he was more than 69 years old in 1861. A younger 
and more impetuous man might have taken a chance and saved the day. 



THE STORY OF I'l! ILADELPIIIA 261 



After Bull Run, enlistments were for "three years or the war," and a large proportion of 
the three months' men re-enlisted under the new terms. Philadelphia sent more than 40.000 
men into the war before the end of 1861. The news of the rout at Bull Run made it certain that 
the country would be in need of financing on a large scale. Jay Cooke, who had secured laro-e 
subscriptions from the Philadelphia banks in May. visited them again on July 22, and two or 
llirce following days, and secured their signatures to a paper offering to lend the Government in 
all $1,737,500 on the credit of "seven-thirty" notes. These were treasury notes to run for three 
years, with interest at the rate of 7.30 per cent per annum (2 cents a day, including Sundays). 
This was the beginning of the "seven-thirties" which became so popular in war finance. Most of 
the early financing of the war — and Secretary Chase had l)orrowed $200,000,000 by November 
30. 1861 — was done through bankers who possessed a sublime confidence that the war would 
soon end ; but when that much had been borrowed the monetary system of the country had 
broken down and Mr. Chase had recourse to greenbacks, putting the country on a paper-money 
basis in 1862. More reverses than successes fell to the lot of the Union arms in the early days 
of the war. Volunteer forces were increased and recruiting was pushed until there were prac- 
tically no more ready to volunteer, and drafts had to be made. Philadelphia had a few "Copper- 
heads," but not many. The draft did not meet any formidable resistance, and there were no riots 
such as the draft occasioned in New York. 

Philadelphia was a very loyal city. It had many organizations of men and women ready to 
give money and service in any way appropriate to the winning of the war. On November 15. 
1862'. a gathering of men at the residence of Benjamin Gerhard, at 226 Fourth Street, decided 
upon an organization to help the successful prosecution of the war. and a week later the same 
men were at the residence of George H. Baker, the poet, at 1720 Walnut Street, and decided to 
organize what they called the "Union Club," but on December 27. at the home of Dr. John F. 
Meigs, it was decided to enlarge the organization and call it the "Union League of Philadelphia." 
It was not partisan, but only required of its members "unqualified loyalty to the Government of 
the United States and unwavering support of its efforts for the suppression of the Rebellion." 
By the end of its first year the club had about 1030 members, and it proved one of the strongest 
supports of the Union cause. The same idea was taken up in other cities, and Union League clubs 
then established still rank with the foremost organizations not only of Philadelphia. New York 
and Chicago, but also of several smaller cities. 

In 1862 the war continued to be the focus of public attention, with local military activities 
far too numerous to mention in detail here. Washington's birthday was made the occasion for 
patriotic celebration on an extensive scale. All the local regiments that were being recruited were 
paraded, and elaborate exercises were held at the Academy of Music in the afternoon, and at 
6 o'clock in the evening the governor and members of the legislature were entertained at dinner 
at the Continental Hotel by the city councils. Day by day there were reminders of war by arrivals 
of wounded to be treated at the hospitals, until all the hospital accommodations of the city were 
exhausted, after which those brought to the city were, for the greater part, sent on to New 
York. Prisoners were brought also, and "contrabands," or negro slaves freed by Union troops, 
of whom a party of ninety-one in one consignment arrived on March 28 from eastern \'irginia. 
They were furnished with breakfast by the refreshment committee on their arrival and then 
were provided with temporary homes. 

An interesting event, in light of the developments of our own day, occurred on May 1. 1862. 
when a "submarine iron propeller, built by Neafie & Levy, was launched at their works. She was 
sixty-five feet long, six feet deep and five feet broad, nearly cylindrical in form, but sharp at 
either extremity. Twelve propellers or paddles projected from each side, and she was intended 
to be hermetically closed, then sunk below the surface by water-ballast. By means of the paddles 



262 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




Scenes in Fairmount Park 

I — Magnificent River Drive. 2 — Statue of Grant. 3— Memorial Hall. 

4— Zoological Garden Entrance. 5 — Horticultural Hall. 6 — River Drive Tunnel, 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 263 

she could then he propelled in any direction. Mr. X'illeroy was the inventor and designer." So 
runs a puhlished account of this unique hut proh ihly ineffective piece of armament. 

Nine days later the iron-clad frigate New Ironsides, the third model ironclad that the Navy 
Dejxirtment had ordered, was launched from the shipyard of Cramp & Sons, this being the 
first large iron vessel ever built by that firm. She was 245 feet long, with 57 feet 6 inches beam 
and 25 feet depth of hold. Though heavily armed, she only drew 15 feet of water. The venerable 
Commodore Charles Stewart (familiarly known as "Old Ironsides") conducted the "chris- 
tening." 

Philadelphia was much more solidly loyal to the Union cause than New York, but it also 
had trouble, from time to time, with sedition-mongers and "peace advocates" who did all they 
could to hamper and curtail the activities of the authorities in their preparations for war and 
were especially loud in their opposition to the draft, which was declared unconstitutional by the 
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania at first by a vote of three to two on November 11, 1863; but 
Justice Lowrie, who had been one of the majority, having resigned, his successor was Justice 
Agnew. On the earlier decision an injunction had been issued forbidding the provost marshal 
and the draft commissioners from drafting men for the army. But the reconstituted court, on 
a motion to dissolve the injunction, sustained the motion, reversing the previous decision by a 
vote of three to two. 

The invasion of Pennsylvania by General Robert E. Lee in 1(S63 created great excitement, 
and the early news of the battle of Gettysburg was especially alarming, but when the turn of the 
battle was reported gloom changed to joy. which was made greater when the story of the fall 
of Vicksburg was told. But in a few days, though the feeling of security was not weakened, Phila- 
delphia had no heart for rejoicing, for the death roll was long and the wounded were a great 
multitude, so that there were few families that did not have a member, or at least a personal 
friend, on the casualty lists. 

Lee had failed at Gettysburg and had retired from the State, but the menace involved in 
his invasion had increased the tremors of the peace-at-any-price people. In the State election 
that fall the issue of Union versus an immediate peace was about as clearly defined as it could 
be, but Andrew G. Curtin, the nominee on the "National Union" ticket, whose sturdy Unionism 
none could doubt, had a majority of only about 15,000 in a vote of 523,667, receiving 269,496 
against 254.171 for Chief Justice George W. Woodward, the Democratic nomineer, who had 
always been in favor of a compromise, had rendered the decision that the draft was unconstitu- 
tional and is alleged to have said that if the country was to be divided he would prefer to see 
the line drawn north of Pennsylvania. The vote of Philadelphia was : Curtin. 44.274 ; Wood- 
ward. 37,193. By this election, however, Andrew G. Curtin, who had been first chosen in 1860 
on a "People's" ticket, was to be the sole "war governor" of Pennsylvania, serving until 1866. 

The Democrats tried to improve their position by a "whirlwind campaign" at the wind-up of 
the presidential contest, and on October 29 they had the longest torchlight procession that had 
ever, up to that time, been seen in Philadelphia, being between six and seven miles in length. But 
the 8th of November showed that this spectacular effort proved not to have helped much, for the 
State showed not only a much larger vote, but an increased majority for the Lincoln electors, as 
compared with the Curtin vote. The city majority for Lincoln was 11,762, 

In the latter part of November, 1864, discovery was made of a plot to defraud the Federal 
Government by carrying away and selling stores consigned to the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Some 
well-known people were implicated in the scheme, but law's delays scattered the evidence and 
many of the accused escaped punishment. 

Captain Winslow, of the U. S. S. Kearsarge, who had won the notable victory over the 
Confederate privateer Alabama off Cherbourg, France, on June 19, which ended the career of 



264 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




THE STORY OF T'l 1 1 LADETPIIIA 265 



that famous vessel, was ^-iven a public reception on December 13, 1864, at the Commercial 
Rooms and a dinner by the Board of Trade at the Continental Hotel the same evening-. 

(^n December 20, 1864. President Lincoln issued his last call, asking- for 300.000 men to be 
filled by draft on February 15. 1865. if not jjreviously furnislied liy voluntary cnlistnients. Under 
this call the city's quota was 11.486. 

On the last day of 1864 Georg-e Mifflin Dallas, a most distinguished citizen of rhiladel])hia. 
son of Alexander James Dallas, who was secretary of the treasury under President Madison, 
and himself became still more distinguished jn statesmanshij). He was. successively, district attor- 
ney and mayor of Philadelphia. United States district attorney, United States senator, attorney 
general of Pennsylvania and United States minister to Russia. He was elected vice i)residcnt of 
the United States in 1844 on the ticket with James K. Polk, of Tennessee, and, presiding over 
the Senate in 1846. gave the casting vote which enacted the low-tarifif bill of that administra- 
tion. He was minister to England during the Buchanan administration, returning to Philadel- 
phia soon after Lincoln's inauguration. He was in his seventy-third year when tie died, and his 
funeral, on January 4. 1865. was attended by a distinguished gathering at St. Peter's Church. 
Third and Pine Streets. 

Enlistments under the call of December 20. 1864. had produced nearly 2000. and. with 
the overplus of the previous draft, left about 9030 of the city's unfinished quota. The draft was 
begun on February 23 in the First and Second Wards, and daily continued until the Eleventh 
Ward was finished, on February 28. Then, at th? request of prominent citizens, it was stopped to 
allow the wards to fill their quota by enlistments a certain proportion of the quota to be fur- 
nished each week. In this w^ay. by aid of liberal bounties ofifered by the city and the wards, the 
quota was provided for. The last draft was made in the Twenty-fifth Ward on March 22, just 
before the fall of Richmond. When that new^s became fully confirmed on April 3. by General 
Weitzel's dispatch announcing his entry into the Confederate capital. Philadeljjhia went into wild 
demonstrations of joy, and when an official dispatch from Secretary Stanton reached Mayor 
Henry the bells of the State House were set ringing, and every bell-tenanted steeple in the city 
took up the refrain. Shops, stores and offices closed and made holiday. News of Lee's surrender 
reached the city on Sunday. April 9. and was distributed by the local telegraph so speedily that it 
was announced from practically every pulpit in the city. The people turned out en masse, and 
throughout the rest of Sunday and all day on Monday the excitement and rejoicing continued. 
It was practically impossible to do any business and the courts adjourned because of the excited 
condition of the public mind. 

But the joy of victory was sobered into sorrow when, on April 15, the city received with 
deep consternation the news of the assassination of President Lincoln. The city, which had been 
joyously decorated with bunting, changed to soml^er draping, and signs of mourning were every- 
where in evidence. It was a transformation of public sentiment from the heights to the depths. 
The first news had brought alarm as well as sorrow, for there was fear that back of the assassi- 
nation there was a widespread plot that was threatening to the peace of the country; but when 
It was found that the plot was that of a few individuals the dread of further outrage was 
removed. The sorrow that remained was profound, and April 19. the day upon which the funeral 
services of President Lincoln began in Washington, was observed in Philadelphia as a day of 
fasting and prayer. 

The remains of President Lincoln arrived in Philadelphia on Saturday. April 22. Every 
house in the city w^as draped in mourning. Business was suspended, and Broad Street and adja- 
cent thoroughfares were densely packed with people. Minute guns, at about half-past 4. notified 
the people that the funeral cortege was approaching the city. The State House bell led the toll- 
mg, which soon became a doleful chorus of all the bells in the citv. as the train arrived. The 



266 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 267 



hearse, with a few relatives and family friends, a guard uf honor, a Congressional committee, a 
delegation from the State of Illinois, the governors of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa and 
Illinois with their staffs, constituted the funeral party. From the train they were accompanied by 
the military forces of the city, under command of Major General George Cadwalader, with visit- 
ing delegations and a civic procession several miles in length. United States, State, city and 
foreign officials, veteran and invalid soldiers, firemen and social organizations and benevolent 
societies made a line several miles in length escorting the funeral from the Baltimore and Ohio 
Station, at Broad and Prime Streets, to Independence Hall. 

The body of the Great Emancipator lay in state in the room in which the Declaration of 
Independence was signed, and was viewed by many thousands of people between 10 o'clock and 
midnight, when the hall was closed. At half-past 4 next morning a great crowd assembled out- 
side the building, and from 6 o'clock in the morning a steady procession, aggregating 85,000 
people, viewed the remains up to the time the doors closed again at midnight on April 23. At 
2.45, on April 24, the remains were escorted by the military and firemen of the city from the 
State House to the Kensington Depot. Thursday, June 1, designated by President Andrew John- 
son as a national fast day of mourning for President Lincoln, was fully observed in Philadelpjiia, 
with suspended business and all of the churches holding appropriate services. 

A general reception and welcome to Philadelphia troops was held on June 10. The troops 
were reviewed by Governor Curtin and Mayor Henry and marched to the volunteer refresh- 
ment saloon, where the men were dismissed. Major General Meade and staff, escorted by the 
First City Troop, led the column. The day was greatly marred by a rainstorm of torrential 
proportions which raged for hours. 

The great armies were disbanded during the summer of 1865. On December 1, 1865, Presi- 
dent Johnson, by proclamation, annulled the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, and on 
April 2. 1866, he announced, by further proclamation, that the Rebellion had ceased. The Chris- 
tian Commission, an organization which had done most noble work for wounded and sick 
soldiers, from its organization in 1861, was formally dissolved on January 1, 1866; and the 
Cooper Shop and Union volunteer refreshment saloons, which had done so much for home and 
visiting soldiers, also ended their useful labors. These Philadelphia organizations bore eloquent 
tribute to the intense patriotism of the city. 

At the city election on October 10, 1865, the contestants for the office of mayor were Morton 
McMichael. for the Union party, and Daniel M. Fox, for the Democratic party. McMichael won 
by a majority of 5869. As the reconstruction measures developed in Congress, there arose sharp 
differences of opinion as to the course to be taken. President Johnson, himself a Southern man. 
though a strong Unionist, favored measures of friendliness and conciliation, and the Johnson 
Republicans, or Conservatives, they styled themselves, followed his leadership. To foster this 
feeling in the nation, a convention was held in Philadelphia August 14, 1866, of which General 
John A. Dix, of New York, was the temporary and Senator Doolittle, of Wisconsin, was the 
permanent chairman. On the first day of the convention ex-Governor James R. Orr. of South 
Carolina, and General Couch, of Massachusetts, walked down the aisle of the "Wigwam." in 
which the gathering was held, arm in arm, and this secured for the] g-athe,ring the popular 
name of "the Arm-in-Arm Convention." This fraternization of Unionists and former Confed- 
erates aroused much bitterness of feeling among many of the people of the city, and there was 
some fear of a riot, to prevent which it was necessary to keep an artillery company under arms. 

President Johnson, "swinging around the circle," came to Philadelphia a few weeks later, 
accompanied by General Grant, Secretary Seward and other men of prominence. The party 
was received by a procession of militia and firemen. 



268 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




Fairmount Park and CiTv Staxl;akv 

I -Washington Monument 2— Lincoln Monument. 3-Stephen Girard. Benjamin Franklin. 

5— William McKinley. 6— John Christian Bullitt 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 269 

'i"he heg-inning of llie war was marked by Mitense cold, and the 7th of January, 1866. when 
the thermometer registered eighteen degrees below zero, was long after regarded as Philadel- 
phia's coldest day. The Delaware River was frozen over, but as the weather quickly moderated 
there was none of the ice troul)le that had mad - tlic winter of 1855 so terrible. 

The first adaption of the Bessemer process in this country began in western Pennsylvania 
in 1866. but this was only one of the causes that led to a rapid growth of metal-working jndus- 
tries. Railroad expansion was one very important factor, and that took on redouI:)led speed after 
the Civil War. Many Philadelphia enterprises date their greater growth from this period. The 
Baldwin Locomotive Works, established in the earliest railroad days, is one; the Cramp Ship- 
yards (founded in 1830) and the Disston Saw Works, dating from 1843. all made rapid strides 
of impro\ement and enlargement which has made them long the leaders in their respective fields ; 
and the same is true of other great enterprises which have contributed to the distinctive leader- 
ship of Philadelphia as a manufacturing center. 

In the elections of 1866 the Rejniblicans won an easy \ictory when Tohn W. (]eary was 
the candidate of the party for governor, easily defeating Heister Clymer, the Democratic can- 
didate. In the local election. Joshua T. Owen was chosen as recorder of deeds and James Mc- 
Manes. later to become a powerful political "boss." was elected prothonotary of the District 
Court. 

There was another epidemic of Asiatic cholera in 1866. It was first discovered about July 
1, spread rapidly and continued until November, the Board of Health announcing the city free 
from it on November 28. It numbered 899 victims. Incidental to the cholera visitation was an 
incendiary fire which partly destroyed Moyamensing Hall on August 4, 1866. The Board of 
Health had proposed to use it as a hospital, and the people of that section, who had established 
a reputation as a riotous and lawless community, threatened to burn it down. The fire resulted, 
and although the building was only partly destroyed, it was no longer available for use in that 
epidemic. There were two other fires, much more destructive, the loss in each case exceeding 
$1,000,000 in that year. One was the dry goods house of James. Santee & Co., on Third above 
Race Street, on February 26. and the other was the Tacony print works of A. S. Lippincott. 

The Philadelphia Public Ledger was the first important American newspaper to be pub- 
lished at a cent a copy. As early as 1830 a paper called the Cent was started, but a few copies 
finished the experiment. The Daily Transcript was a 1-cent newspaper started in 1835, but it 
was not a success. In 1836 William Swain. A. S. Abell and A. H. Simmons became partners, 
estabHshed the Pubhc Ledger as a 1-cent paper and before long absorbed the Daily Transcript, 
which they made a sub-title. The paper was successful, although the panic of 1837 followed a 
year later. The first number appeared on March 25. 1835. and on May 17, 1837. the same firm 
established the Baltimore Sun. The two papers were similar in make-up and largely in contents, 
as they exchanged news. After the death of Mr. Simmons the firm became Swain & x\bell. Mr. 
Swain taking the active management of the Public Ledger and Mr. Abell of the Sun in Balti- 
more. The high costs of the Civil War made it necessary for papers to increase their price, and 
this was distasteful to Mr. Swain. The paper was sold to George W. Childs in December, 1846, 
and the price increased to 2 cents. Its already great prestige was much increased, and as a 
conservative journal whose news was authentic it became the favorite paper of cultured people 
and acquired a quality circulation which gave it exceptional value as an advertising medium. 
It had such success that Mr. Childs and his asso.nates (chiefly the Drexels) concluded to build a 
new and more convenient home, erecting at Sixth and Chestnut Streets a building, formally 
opened on June 26, 1867. which was long pointed to with pride by Philadelphians as the first 
newspaper structure in the country. 



270 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




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THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 271 



A great hailstorm occurred on September 27, 1867, as the culmination of a gale that swept 
through the city in the afternoon; hailstones, which weighed in some cases three and four 
ounces, beat against the houses and shattered more than 500,000 panes of glass. A similar 
hailstorm occurred on May 8, 1870. 

The local election in October, 1867, resulted in a sweeping election for the Democratic 
ticket, headed by Peter Lyle for sheriff, after a noisy and tumultuous campaign. The party was 
much encouraged by this victory as a preparation for the mayoralty election of 1868. Daniel M. 
Fox, a conveyancer in the Northern Liberties, who had been the "forlorn hope" candidate of the 
party against Alexander Henry in 1865 and against Morton McMichael in 1865, was chosen to 
make a third trial for the office of mayor in 1868 against Hector Tyndale, the Republican candi- 
date. He was elected by a majority of only 2143 votes in an election of much alleged fraudulent 
voting, on the strength of which the Republicans successfully contested the election of some of 
the associates of Fox on the ticket. The State, at that same October election, went Republican, 
and the city, in November, gave the Grant and Colfax presidential ticket a majority of 5815 over 
the Democratic nominees, Seymour and Blair. 

One of the results of the Civil War, with its large expenditures and its heavy legacy of debt, 
was to bring about a heavy increase of internal revenue taxes, the burden falling very largely 
upon whisky. The whisky distillers organized opposition to the collection of the taxes on their 
product, and in connection with this opposition the Government officials at one time made a raid 
with a force of marines on the distilleries in the Port Richmond district. The internal revenue 
men found the whisky people hostile all the summer of 1869, and Government detectives were 
kept busy unearthing frauds on the revenue. James J. Brooks, one of the ablest of these, and 
afterward chief of the secret service at Washington, was made the victim of an attack which 
kept him at the point of death for several weeks. Hugh Mara, Neil McLaughlin and James 
Dougherty were arrested in New York about a month later. Dougherty and Mara were con- 
victed on November 20 of murderous assault and sentenced to about seven years' imprisonment 
each, but the liquor men who hired them escaped detection. 

John W. Geary, Republican, was re-elected governor of Pennsylvania in 1869 over Asa 
Packer, the Democratic nominee, his city majority being 4400 votes, and in the local election of 
1870 the Republicans won the election for sheriff and register of wills. At the same elec- 
tion there was a preference vote for the location of the projected public buildings between Penn 
Square, which received 51.623 votes, and Washington Square, which had only 32.825. The selec- 
tion of Penn Square by the referendum plan brought to a termination a controversy which had 
for months been waged with much acrimony. 

Elections in Philadelphia had become scenes of frequent rowdyism, and in 1870. at a meet- 
ing of the judges of election on October 13, a gang of roughs burst open the door of the room 
in which they were assembled and began an affray, in the course of which Alexander Craw- 
ford (in self-defense, as decided by a coroner's jury) shot John C. Nolan, a minor Democratic 
politician. 

The census of 1870 disclosed that the city of Philadelphia contained 674.022 inhabitants. 



CHAPTER TWENTY 

POLITICS AND PROGRESS-THE CENTENNIAL EXHIBL 
TION— PARTIES AND REFORMERS— CITY ADMINIS- 
TRATION UNDER THE NEW CHARTER 

An ordinance passed December 29. 1870, provided for a change from the vokmteer fire 
companies to a paid fire department. The change had been proposed years before, but the vokm- 
teer firemen represented a strong but usable element in the local politics of Philadelphia. Undis- 
ciplined, riotous, constantly embroiled v/ith the police because of their continuous law-breaking, 
thev were a corrupting and rowdy factor in elections which, after the Civil War. were almost 
invariably accompanied by riots, in which the fire companies often had an inciting and always a 
conspicuous part. They were a disturbing element in the social life of the city, and a dangerous 
one. especiallv during the administration of Mayor Fox, when the cjuality and morals of the 
police force were at a notoriously low ebb. The commissioners of the Paid Fire Department 
worked so well during the winter of 1870-1871 that the new fire department was fomially put 
into action bv the president of the commission, Jacob Laudenslager. on March 1.^. 1871. Some 
of the fire companies were inclined to make trouble for the new department for a time, but soon 
the companies dwindled down, except as social organizations, and these after a few years ceased 
to exist. 

The year 1871 was one of many crimes of violence, fights and riotous disorders. The recent 
enfranchisement of negroes was the cause of much excitement and turmoil as the October elec- 
tion approached. The night before election a colored man named Jacob Gordon was killed at 
Eighth and Bainbridge streets. The next day riots, mainly directed against the negroes, occurred 
in the Fourth and Fifth Wards, in which more than twenty were injured and two prominent 
negroes, Professor Octavius V. Catto and Isaiah Chase, were killed. The outrage was the cause 
of a race antipathy which it took years to heal. The election went strongly Republican, all the 
candidates of that party being elected, headed by William S, Stokley as mayor, who had a major- 
ity of 9080 over his opponent, James S. Biddle. 

News of the great Chicago fire reached the city on (3ctober 11, and a citizens' meeting was 
held at once at which $100,000 was secured, and before the year closed the total subscriptions, 
reached $500,000. 

The Grand Duke Alexis of Russia, who was touring the country, paid a visit to Philadelphia 
on December 4, was entertained at breakfast at Belmont Mansion, Fairmount Park, at which 
General Meade presided. A reception was tendered to him in the afternoon, and a ball in his 
honor took place at the Academy of Music in the evening. 

The dedication of the Lincoln monument in Fairmount Park on September 22. 1871, was 
made a notable event by an imposing military parade, the gathering of a large audience and the 
delivery of an oration by Colonel William McMichael. 

The year 1872 was a presidential year, and Philadelphia had the national Republican con- 
vention, which occurred at the Academy of Music, beginning on June 3. The renomination of 
General Grant for president by unanimous vote was accomplished on the second day. with- 
out excitement, as there had been no other expectation ; but the vice presidency nomination was 
contested, as great opposition to Schuyler Colfax had developed. His friends fought for him 
vigorously, but Senator Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts, was finally chosen. The unanimity of 
the convention for Grant did not extend to the Republicans of the country as a whole. But the 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



273 




274 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



disaffected, or Liberal, Republicans had a convention of their own at Cincinnati which nomi- 
nated Horace Greeley, of New York, for president, and B. Gratz Brown, of Missouri, for vice 
president. The Democrats, meeting at Baltimore, indorsed the Liberal Republican ticket and 
made it its own, but the party at large did not warm to that movement. A so-called Labor Reform 
Democratic convention, composed of recalcitrant Democrats, met in Philadelphia and nominated 
Charles O'Conor, the eminent New York lawyer, for president, and Senator Eli Saulsbury, of 
Delaware, for vice president. This third ticket had little support at the polls, and the coolness 
of the Democracy to the Greeley movement led to an easy victory for Grant and Wilson. 

Stokley's election in 1871 as mayor was due to the fact that he had led, in the select council 
the attack on the fire companies, which resulted in the passage of the ordinance for a paid 
department, and had made a vigorous attack on the "gas trust." The gas works were established 
in 1835 under an ordinance which provided for a board of twelve trustees, two being elected each 
year for a term of three years. At first, managed conservatively by trustees chosen from the 
ranks of the city's most distinguished citizens, who had placed a man of scientific eminence and 
business probity, John C. Cresson, at its head, the gas supply had been efficiently administered. 
But politics of the baser sort crept into the board, and James McManes and William R. Leeds, 
political bosses, with ten other trustees who were merely their satellites, made it the citadel of 
bossism. The chief engineer was a ward politician, his assistant an umbrella maker, and the 
entire gas service was overloaded and overmanned with political heelers. The select council 
appointed a committee to investigate the affairs of the gas works in 1866. The public wanted the 
city to take direct control of the property. Stokley led the movement in 1868 which resulted in 
the passage of an ordinance to transfer the works to the municipality to be administered by a gas 
department. The trustees took the case to the Supreme Court, which decided that the city had 
no control over the trustees. But his bold attacks on the fire companies and the gas trust, com- 
bined with general dissatisfaction with the polic? department as administered under the Fox 
regime, had won the mayor's office for Stokley, of whom the people expected much. He began 
well by a strengthening of the police administration, and did unquestionably good work in the 
restoration of law and order. But he was a machine politician, gave contracts to favorites, and 
in the election of 1874 (the date of which had be-^n changed to February) he was returned as 
elected, although the election was notoriously manipulated in his favor by means of stuffed 
ballot-boxes. The change in the date of elections for municipal offices came in the new consti- 
tution which had been adopted at a special election for that purpose in December, 1873. The 
delegates to the convention which framed this constitution had been elected by the people in 
October. 1872, and the sessions of the convention had been held in Philadelphia from January to 
November. 1873. 

General George Gordon Meade, who was Philadelphia's foremost soldier in the Civil War, 
died in the city on November 6, 1872. Born in Cadiz, Spain. December 31, 1815 (his father, Rich- 
ard W. Meade, of Philadelphia, being the American consul and navy agent at Cadiz), he was 
graduated from West Point in 1835. Resigning in 1836 because of serious ill-health, after serv- 
ing in tlie Seminole war. he served the government as civil engineer on boundary surveys in 
1837 and 1838, re-entered the army in 1842 as second lieutenant of topographical engineers and 
was employed on important surveys ; went into active service in the Mexican War, where he dis- 
tinguished himself, and after its close was in important engineer work until the Civil War, when 
he became brigadier general of volunteers. Lie distinguished himself through the war, gained 
command of the army of the Potomac from June, 1863, to the end of the war and commanded 
at the battle of Gettysburg, receiving his commission as major general in the regular army 
August 18, 1864. His funeral at St. Mark's Protestant Episcopal Church on November 11, 1872, 
was under the direction of General McDowell. President Grant, with other members of his cab- 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



iiiet; the t^overnor of Pennsylvania, mayor of I'hiladelphia and leadini^ military offieers and 
public officials were at the funeral in force, an 1 there was a ij^reat military and civil procession 
which followed the body of Philadelphia's foremost soldier to the place of interment. 

The great panic of 1873, which spread throu,i,di the country and caused much suffering and 
misery for about three or four years, began in Philadelphia. The failures of Jay Cooke & Co. 
and of v.. W. Clarke & Co., who closed their doors on September 18, started runs on the local 
banks, and especially upon the l^delity Safe Deposit and Trust Company and the Union Bank- 
ing Company, the latter being compelled to closs on Sejitember 20. From that on failures were 
daily recorded in various cities. The failure of the Franklin Savings Fund was the heaviest blow 
to the thrifty. poor of Philadelphia, thousands of whom had put their savings in that institution. 
It was adjudged l)ankrupt by the L^nited States Court February 6, 1874. 

llie panic had come after an era of wild speculation. The firm of Jay Cooke & Co. in New 
York and that of E. W. Clarke & Co. in Philadelphia had been called on to finance many ambi- 
tious but strictly legitimate enterprises, of which the Northern Pacific Railroad was the most 
important. But their credits had been too largely extended and a panic distrust had been engen- 
dered by the notorious Credit Mobilier scandals, which offered a striking example of the devious 
ways of "frenzied finance." In the Southern States the "reconstruction acts" and stringent 
"test oaths" performed the office which they were intended to fill, of excluding the cultured 
classes of the South from the franchise, and passed the power into the hands of carpet-bag poli- 
ticians and the ignorant negroes who were their tools and accomplices. Venal legislatures in the 
"reconstructed" States thus controlled piled up reckless and fraudulent debts so crushing in their 
volume as to make repudiation a practical certainty. Corrupt city governments were honey- 
combed with "graft" — the Tw^eed ring in New York being a conspicuous example— and financial 
lapses and irregularities of firms and individuals were daily exploited in the press. On Friday, 
September 19, the day after the first failures, twenty or more prominent firms in New York 
and a dozen in Philadelphia went to the wall. President Grant and William A. Richardson, sec- 
retary of the treasury, went to New York to see if they could save the situation, but found 
matters in a perilous condition. The Stock Exchange in New York closed for seven and a half 
days. Money was scarce in the markets and new enterprises languished because of the timidity 
of capital ; and established factories, unable to finance their production or to sell their products, 
closed their doors. Unemployment was general, and in the severe winter of 1873-1874 many 
families suft'ered from hunger and privations. 

The great republic was approaching its one hundredth birthday. Reminders of the fact 
came in the celebration in many of the older cities of pre-Revolution events, as in the "Tea Party" 
at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia on the centennial of the Boston harbor event, Decem- 
ber 17, 1873 ; the centennial of the first meeting of the Continental Congress in Carpenter's Hall, 
held in that same building September 5, 1874. and others. An agitation had begun in 1870 for 
some demonstration to celebrate the completion of the first centurv of the existence of the 
United States, and on March 3, 1871. Congress passed a bill for the creation of a Centennial 
Commission to arrange for a World's Fair, international in scope, as the most fitting way of cele- 
brating the great results of one hundred years of national life. The World's Fair idea had proven 
successful in attracting large international gatherings of exhibitors and visitors. London began 
It with the great International Exhibition in Hyde Park in 1851 in a "Crystal Palace." which was 
afterward torn down and rebuilt as a popular amusement resort in the suburb of Sydenham. 
Paris had followed with one in 1855. London had a second in 1862 at South Kensington. Paris 
had repeated with great brilliance on the Champs de Mars in 1867, and these, wnth another exposi- 
tion planned for \'ienna in 1873. were the models which American ingenuity was called upon to 
surpass and outdistance. The commission w^as to consist of two members from each State and 



77/ Z: STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Tonitin-y, niakiiij;- iiiiictv-t\iur nu-nibcrs in all. Tlio act was a nu-rc anlluirizatinn at tirst, and there 
wore m> tenuis at tlic disposal of the coniniissicni. (."oinu-ils made an appfopriation of $25,000 for 
organization purposes in October, lS7i. and on March 4, ISvi, thirty-two members came to- 
gether, representing- twenty-eii^ht States and Territories, ami elected Major Cieneral (later Sen- 
ator) loseph 1\. llawlev. of L'onnecticut, ]u-esident, and Haniel J. Morrell, of Pennsylvania, chair- 
man, of an executive committee of seven luembers, and at a later meeting;- in May, 1872. A. T. 
Cioshorn, an Ohio commissioner, was elected director-general of the exposition. Financing the 
exposition was effected by the creation of a cor^ioraiion which si^ld stock and found means 'o 
tinance the enterprise. 

lohn Walsh, a sterling' citizen oi Philadelphia, who had successfully managed the great Cen- 
tral Sanitarv h'air in aid of anuy antl navy rehef in 18(4, was chosen ])resident of the board of 
ilirectiirs aiul chairman oi its comiuittee on tuian/e. The I'airmonnt Park (.'onuuission granted 










/^'/ 



CONNKCTINO BrIPGH AND TrNXKI,, F.VIKMOUNT P.XKK 

the Centennial officials the use of 450 acres of land in the West Park, covering the "Lans- 
downe"' and "Belmont" estates, and the construction of buildings and laying out of grounds was 
steadily pushed. Ground for the public buildings was broken on the Penn Square site, which had 
been chosen by referendum, on August 16. 1871, and the cornerstone was laid on Tttly 14, 1874. 
with Masonic ceremonies and an oration was delivered by Benjamin Harris Brewster, who later 
became attorney general of the United States. 

In preparation for the coming of the great freight and passenger business, many readjust- 
ments of railway tracks and terminals were made. Among other things, the freight station at 
Thirteenth and Market Streets was abandoned and the property was bought by John Wanamaker. 
The building was used in the summer of 1874 by the Franklin Institute as a local industrial ex- 
position, and in the winter was the center of a great revival conducted by the famous evangelist^;. 



THE STORY 01' I'! 1 1 L.]l )liLPIl 1 A 



Moody and Sankey. who jjacked the auditorium, containing 12,000 seats, nightly for several 
weeks. Mr. Wanamaker later utilized the building for his store, later acquiring the remainder 
of the block and building his present magnificent structure. 

The most notorious case of child-stealing on record in this country, or perhaps in the world, 
occurred in the abduction of Charles Brewster Ross, a little boy, 4 years old, who with his brother 
Walter was enticed into a carriage by two men. Walter was set down in the street after going a 
short distance and ])ermitted to return to his home, but the younger boy was never heard of 
again. Christian K. Ross, father of the child, at once started a search which he kept up for 
years, but without avail, except that of the hundreds of clues suggested by the many detectives, 
])rofessional and amatciu', who were searching for "Charlie Ross" all over the world; some really 




Lincoln Monument 

resulted in finding lost or stolen children and returning them to their relatives. William Mosher 
and Joseph Douglass were said to be the men who stole the little boy. They were shot and killed 
December 14, 1874, while engaged in the attempt to rob the house of Judge Van Brunt in the Bay 
Ridge section of Brooklyn. N. Y., but hopes that then revived, that the boy would be found in 
or near New York, were doomed to disappointm -nt. William A. Westervelt, who was arrested in 
187:?. charged with being connected with the kidnaping conspiracy, was sentenced to seven years' 
imprisonment on (Jctober 9, but, as far as was revealed, nothing was ever found about the child's 
fate. 

On July 4, 1874, a new bridge crossing the Schuylkill River at Girard Avenue, built to re- 
place a wooden bridge which had become badly dilapidated, was opened to the public. The 
bridge was more than 100 feet wide, with spacious sidewalks, and was made in the mills at Phoe- 
nixville, costing more than $1,000,000. 



278 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

The Market Street bridge was burned on November 20, 1875. This bridge had been widened 
in 1850 to accommodate the trains of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which so increased the traffic 
over that bridge that another bridge was constructed across the Schuylkill at Chestnut Street to 
reheve the strain, and was dedicated and opened on June 23, 1866. When the Market Street 
bridge was burned, the railway company at once constructed a temporary bridge which was in 
running order nine days after the fire. On December 2 the company procured permission fron^ 
councils to build a substantial new bridge on the site of the burned structure, and they com- 
pleted it in twenty-one days. 

Other bridge-building projects were accelerated to improve transportation facilities in time 
for the Centennial Exposition. A double-decked iron bridge to replace the old wire suspension 
bridge at Callowhill Street was completed in 1875, and a new stone-and-iron drawbridge at 
South Street, which had been five years in building, was opened in February, 1876. * 

The vice president of the United States, Henry Wilson, who had been inaugurated March 
4, 1873, died in Washington on November 22, 1875. The body, on its way to Massachusetts for 
burial, was brought to Philadelphia and escorted to Independence Hall by a torchlight proces- 
sion. It laid in state there next day and was viewed by thousands of citizens until escorted late 
in the day to the Germantown Junction by the military and civic organizations of the city. 

The great Centennial Exposition was opened on May 10, 1876, with appropriate ceremonies. 
The open space between Memorial Hall and the main building was packed with people to the 
number of about 150,000. The grandstand on Memorial Terrace was filled with people of distinc- 
tion, including the Emperor Dom Pedro and the Empress of Brazil and other foreign celebrities 
and representative Americans of all sections. Four thousand local troops escorted President 
Grant to the grounds. The Theodore Thomas Orchestra furnished the music, while a chorus of 
1000 voices sang Whittier's "Centennial Hymn." President John Welsh, of the board of finance, 
formally presented the buildings to the Centennial Commission, whose president. General Haw- 
ley, made an appropriate address, after which President Grant, in a short speech, declared the 
exposition open. A procession of eminent citizens and distinguished visitors went to the main 
building and thence to Machinery Hall, where General Grant set the Corliss engine in motion. 

Many prominent events occurred during the exhibition, of which the Centennial Fourth of 
July furnished, on the streets of the city, the greatest gathering that any American city had. up 
to that time, experienced. In fact, the whole week, beginning with a great parade of the Grand 
Army of the Republic on Monday. July 3. was filled with celebrations in which many distin- 
guished visitors took part. The first three months of the exposition were disappointing as to 
attendance, averaging only 25,000 a day, partly due to a spell of intense heat from June 17 to 
July 20, whjsn there was scarcely a day in which the temperature fell below 90 degrees, and on 
July 9 it reached 102 degrees. The exhibition closed on November 10. The big day was Penn- 
sylvania day, when 275,000 people filled the grounds. There were 8,004.274 cash admissions and 
9,910.966 admissions of all kinds. 

The exhibits at the exhibition represented the principal products and manufacturers of all 
civilized countries, and many notable inventions had their first public exemplifications. It was, 
in particular, a great object lesson in American progress, showing the advance which a free 
people had made in the most wonderfully progressive century that the world had ever seen. 

The Centennial year was also a year of political excitement when the national election was 
to end in a disputed result and a settlement by a tribunal whose finding many still believe to 
have been contrary to justice. At the exhibition General Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio. Repub- 
lican candidate for president, had been a visitor on the 4th of July and on the 26th of October 
("Ohio Day") ; and Samuel J. Tilden. of New York, the Democratic nominee, was given a re- 
ception on September 21 ("New York Day"). The Hayes electors received a majority of about 



run STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



279 



15,000 votes in the city, and all but one of the Repubhcan candidates had a Hke majority. The 
exception was W. E. Rowan, Repubhcan nominee for sheriff, against whom there was a con- 
siderable Republican revolt, with the result that the Democratic candidate was elected by 6000 
majority. 

This result led to a coalition of independent Republicans and Democrats which it was hoped 
would free the city from the domination of political bosses of ill repute, who had greatly strength- 
ened their hold on power and perquisites under the Stokley administration. In 1(S74 Stokley had 
secured re-election over Colonel A. K. McClure. who ran as an Independent and Democratic 
candidate. After his defeat, Colonel McClure had established a new paper, the Philadelphia 
Times, which in a year had reached a position only second in influence to the Public Ledger. 




Betsy Ross House, Arch Street, Philadelphia 



Stokley. as before narrated, had received his first nomination in 1871 because, as a member 
of councils, he had courageously fought the volunteer tire department and the gas trust. He had 
begun well in greatly strengthening the police, and although political bossism and corruption 
flourished, he had so strong an organization behind him that he had become mayor for the Cen- 
tennial period. 



280 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




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THE STORY OF PI'l 1 LADELPHIA 281 

McClure and his Times had kept up agitation against Stoklcy, and especially against the two 
most prominent bosses, James McManes and William R. Leeds, and although dishonesty in extor- 
tionate perquisites of political favorites were plainly exposed, it was evident that the "machine" 
was strongly intrenched. The mayor, officials and election organization were in their hands, and 
so when, in the February election, Republican independents endeavored to help Joseph L. Caven 
secure the office of mayor over Stokley, they only succeeded in reducing the majority for Stok- 
ley (according to the returns) to 2866. while the other Republican candidates had an average of 
about 5000 more. ; 

The great railroad labor revolt in July, 1877, taxed the police resources to the limit. A 
strike on the Reading Railway in April was adjusted without resort to violence. But the July 
disturbance, started by the Pennsylvania Railroad employes at Pittsburgh, paralyzed traffic and 
had many riotous manifestations, and on the 19th strikers and tramps, in surly mood, w^ere col- 
lecting in groups, threatening mischief. It was feared that a bloody riot was being prepared for 
Sunday, the 22d, there having been disturbances at Pittsburgh the day before, in which five of 
the militia forces had been killed and fifteen wounded. Mayor Stokley issued a proclamation 
declaring he would put down any disturbance with a heavy hand, and soon after made his head- 
quarters in the West Pennsylvania Depot, with a strong guard of policemen. On Monday, the 
2'3d, an oil train was set on fire on the West Chester siding, near the Blocklcy Almshouse ; and 
there were various incipient riots during the day which were promptly suppressed by the police, 
who used their clubs freely, without loss of life. Marines from Baltimore and a detail of 
regular United States troops, under General Hancock, stopped further trouble, except a small 
riot at Fourth and Berks Streets, in which one person was killed and several injured on Thurs- 
day, the 26th of July. 

While the value of Stokley's vigor in the suppression of rioting was recognized, his admin- 
istration was so thoroughly permeated by corrupt politics that there was great dissatisfaction. 
The police force was directly controlled by the "machine," of which James McManes was the 
most aggressive head. The municipal gas works trust was the citadel of bossism, and James Mc- 
Manes. the leading spirit of local politics, and William R. Leeds, his lieutenant, were both trus- 
tees of the gas works. McManes had a grip on the local Republican party which was strength- 
ened by his power over the spoils of office under laws which made a dishonest fee system pos- 
sible. Before the constitution of the State was revised in 1873, the yearly income of the 
recorder of deeds amounted to about $80,000; receiver of taxes, about $85,000; clerk of the 
Court of Quarter Sessions, $35,000; prothonotary of the District Court, $15,000; city commis- 
sioner, $8000. The constitution of 1873 put salaries in place of fees, but left a place of vantage in 
the office of the receiver of taxes, where fees were still collected, and were especially large in 
the case of delinquent taxes. The spoils thus available amounted in 1881 to about $200,000. which 
sum was ''split up" among less than twenty members of the ring. 

The city's gas manufacturing department was made the refuge and center of the political 
oligarchy which ruled the city, the police and — through McManes — the mayor. It was not alone 
the Republican "bosses" and "heelers" who were the beneficiaries of this regime. Bargains were 
struck between Republican and Democratic bosses by means of which the grip of the "grafters" 
on the spoils of misgovernment was made secure. 

There were always a few absolutely loyal and public-spirited citizens who were honestly 
endeavoring, though in ways usually inadequate and ineffective, to clean up the city's political 
condition. In 1871 there had been formed the Citizens' Mutual Reform Association, of which 
Henry C. Lea. George H. Farle and T. Morris Perot were among the leading figures, and planned 
to improve the condition of Philadelphia. Their quiet eft'orts were first directed toward arousing 
public interest in civic betterment, but in 1877 the reform forces, without anv flourish 



282 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



of trumpets, centered on Robert E. Pattison, a young lawyer little known in politics, but known 
to have reform principles, as a medium to exhibit the reform strength. He had been nominated 
on the Democratic ticket for controller of the city, and although the Republican candidates for 
the other offices were elected by strong pluralities, Mr. Pattison had a small majority and was 
inducted into office. ' 

He delved into the financial administration of the city, showing disgraceful conditions, and 
in 1880 he was re-elected by a majority of 13,000 when the other Democratic candidates were 
defeated by majorities of more than 20,000. This vote of Pattison's encouraged the reform element 
to undertake a more perfect organization, which was perfected by the creation of the "Committee 
of One Hundred," so called, although the number of members was always a few more than 100. 

There was a meeting held on November 15, 1880, a few days after the election of President 
Garfield. The meeting was called by E. Dunbar Lockwood, a manufacturer, and Amos R. Little, 
a drygoods dealer, was made chairman. A resolution was passed asking Mr. Little to appoint 
"not less than one hundred business men" as a committee. He called to his aid Joel J. Baily, 
Joshua L. Baily and others, and as a result the following 108 business men were selected as a 
committee : 

John F. Craig William H. Jenks 

Matthew H. Crawford Theodore Justice 



y Charles B. Adamson 
George N. Allen 
William Allen 
William Arrott 
J. T. Audenreid 
John T. Bailey 
Joel J. Baily 
Joshua L. Baily 
H. W. Bartol 
William B. Bement 
Charles H. Biles 
Rudolph Blankenburg 
James Bonbright 
David Branson 
William Brockie 
Alexander Brown 
Henry C. Butcher 
George L. Buzbee 

A. A. Catanach 
Thomas T. Child 

j/ Edmund H. Coates 
/Henry T. Coates 
Lemuel Coffin 
Qiarles J. Cohen 

B. B. Comegys 
E. R. Cope 
Robert R. Corson 



George V. Cresson 
Samuel Croft 
James Dobson 
A. J. Drexel 
George H. Earle 
William P. Ellison 
Oliver Evans 
George W. Farr 
John Field 
W. W. Frazier, Jr. 
Clayton French 
Philip C. Garrett 
D. R. Garrison 
Jabez Gates 
Henry C. Gibson 
John E. Graeff 
James Graham 
R. H. Griffith 
Thomas S. Harris 
Thomas Hart 
R. E. Hastings 
Samuel Hecht 
F. Oden Horstmann 
N. E. Janney 
Eben C. Jayne 



Godfrey Keebler 
Charles O. Knight 
Henry C. Lea 
Henry Lewis 
Amos R. Little 
E. Dunbar Lockwood 
J. Frederick Loeble 
Edward Longstreth 
George D. McCreary 
John McLaughlin 
Louis C. Madeira 
James S. Mason 
Theodore Megargee 
Thomas G. Morton 
Aquila Nebeker 
Morris Newburger 
H. M. Oliver 
Joseph Parrish 
Thomas Patten, Jr. 
T. Morris Perot 
James Peters 
H. W. Pitkin 
Francis B. Reeves 
Charles Roberts 



Seville Schofield 
Samuel G. Scott 
David Scull, Jr. 
Oswald Seidensicker 
William Sellers 
F. R. Shelton 
B. H. Shoemaker 
Alexander Simpson, Jr. 
James Spear 
Charles Spencer 
Justus C. Strawbridge 
A. C. Thomas 
WiUiam Henry Trotter 
John P. Verree 
John Wanamaker 
George Watson. 
John C. Watt 
Christopher Wetherell 
Charles Wheeler 
Edward S. Whelen 
Alexander Whilden 
George Whitney 
Ellis D. Williams 
Henry Winsor 
E. R. Wood 
William Wood 
James A. Wright 



Charles H. Rogers 

The first meeting of the Committee of One Hundred was held in the Board of Trade rooms 
on December 3, 1880. Philip C. Garrett was elected chairman; James A. Wright and Francis B. 
Reeves, vice chairmen; A. J. Drexel, treasurer; George W. Farr, secretary; Robert R. Corson 
and Charles B. Adjimson, assistant secretaries ; and standing committees were organized, with 
chairmen as follows: Executive committee, Amos R. Little; finance committee, Joel 



THE STORY OF PIIILADTLPHIA 



28:: 



J. Baily ; legislative committee, Edward R. Wood ; ward organization committee, John McLaugh- 
lin ; committee on public meetings, H. W. Bartol. A campaign committee was later appointed, 
with John Field as its chairman. The Republicans renominated Mayor Stokley for mayor and 
selected George G. Pierie as candidate for receiver of taxes. The Committee of One Hundred 
selected for mayor Samuel G. King, who had been a member of select council from 1861. He was 
a Democrat who had a record of consistent fidelity to public interests. For receiver of taxes the 
committee chose John Hunter, Rei)ublican, a manufacturer, who had a similarly clean record as 
member of councils. With this fusion, it went vigorously into the campaign of February, 1881. 
electing Mr. King mayor by a majority of 5787 and Hunter as receiver of taxes by a majority 
of 26.586. The administration of these offices by these men justified the championship the Com- 
mittee of One Hundred had given tiiem, but the endeavor to re-elect Mayor King in February, 
1884, was strongly combated by the political ring, whose nominee, William B. Smith, was elected 
by a majority of 9152 votes over Mr. King. ' 

The Committee of One Hundred had joined with other reform organizations to secure .an 
entire reorganization o^ the city. The matter had been much debated for several years. In 1876 




City Hali^ 



Governor Hartranft had called the attention of the legislature to the need of better and more effect- 
ive government for the cities of the State, with the result that the legislature authorized the gov- 
ernor to appoint a commission of eleven members to devise a plan of government for the cities of 
the State. Governor Hartranft appointed a committee of eleven members, which proposed a "uni- 
form code," but the legislature did nothing in the line of new municipal charter legislation for 
several years. 



284 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



But the question of municipal reform would not down. The reform element, which had 
elected in 1877. and re-elected in 1880, Robert E. Pattison as controller of the city, had encour- 
aged that sturdy young political crusader and helped him to a degree of popularity that secured 
his election as governor of the State at the election in 1882, the first Democrat to hold the office 
since 1861. 

During the year 1882 John C. Bullitt, a leading lawyer of the city, who had been a member 
of Governor Hartranft's commission ; Henry C. Lea, E. Dunbar Lockwood and others counseled 
together as to the defects in the existing charter and the details of an improved system. A com- 
mittee of councils debated the subject for months. Finally, a well-considered proposal was drawn 
up, the provisions of which were given publicity. The document, which became known as the 
"Bullitt bill," was strongly favored, and many petitions went forward to the legislature asking 
for its passage. Governor Pattison strongly favored it. and it was passed by the legislature in 
1885 to go into effect April 1, 1887. 

This charter was a document which centralized power and responsibility. The office of mayor 
was greatly magnified in importance, and the term was extended to four years, the mayor being 
made ineligible for re-election. The twenty-five separate bureaus which had previously conducted 
the various city activities were consolidated into nine departments : public safety, public works, 
receiver of taxes, city treasurer, city controller, law, education, charities and correction and sinking 
fund commission. 

The functions of the department of public safety covered direction of the police, building 
inspection and health administration, but later the latter was organized into a separate depart- 
ment of public health. The department of public works had in charge the water supply, lighting 
service, construction, maintenance and repair of the streets, maintenance of public build- 
ings, public squares, bridges, sewers, drains, docks, dredging work, etc. The turning over to this 
department of the gas works abolished the institution which had for years been the center of politi- 
cal scandals innumerable. The gas works trustees were ousted and the city manufactured gas 
under a system of direct control for a few years until the works were leased to a private corpora- 
tion. The Bullitt charter provided for the appointment by the mayor of the director of public safe- 
ty and the director of public works, and the mayor also had the appointment of a president and 
four directors of the department of charities and correction, which had in charge the direction of 
the almshouses, hospitals and reformatory institutions of the city. The receiver of taxes, city 
treasurer, city controller and city solicitor were elected by the people for three-year terms. 

The passage of the Bullitt l)ill was considered to be such a complete execution of the tasks 
that the Committee of One Hundred had been organized to do that the organization disbanded 
January 19, 1886, content to rest expectant until the reform should become effective on April 1. 
1887. For the first mayor under this new charter the Republicans nominated Edwin H. Fitler and 
the Democrats named George de B. Keim. Fitler won by a plurality of about 28,000 votes. He 
appointed ex-Mayor William S. Stokley as director of pul)lic safety and General Louis Wagner 
as director of public works. The millennium did not come in with the coming into force of the 
Bullitt charter, and the new mayor was not exactly a shining light of reform, as Colonel A. K. 
McClure, of the Philadelphia Times, was by no means reticent in pointing out ; but he was not as 
black as Colonel McClure painted him. He was a respectable mayor and things jogged along 
smoothly under his administration. He pleased the politicians, apparently, for quite a strong dele- 
gation later went to the national Republican convention and endeavored to get Mr. Fitler nomi- 
nated as vice president of the United States. But whatever of fame he had as a politician was 
purely local, and his promoters failed to impress the convention that he was a national political 
figure. '• 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 2cS: 



The gas question, which had done so much tor the bedevihiient of Philadelphia politics, 
was still to be a subject of i)()litical interest. But gas was soon to contend with a rival in the 
electric light — first the sputtering but brilliant arclight in its primitive forms, but later the 
improved, inclosed arc, and afterward the incandescent lamp, with its steady and reliable light. 
Philadelphia has been among the foremost cities in getting itself electrically equipped, and as early 
as 1884 the city was the host of an electrical exposition which was given in a building near the old 
Pennsylvania Railroad Station in West Philadel])hia. under the auspices of the Franklin Institute. 
It attracted national attention, for that was the period when the great transition came which 
changed the electric art from a scientific pastime to a great industry becoming daily more and 
more vital to our civic and industrial life. 

That times change and men change with them is illustrated l)y the attitudes Philadelj^hia has 
presented toward the question of alcoholic licjuors. The original Quaker settlers looked upon the 
ale brewery and distillery as quite respectable and even necessary items in the city's communal 
life. In fact, the brewer and distiller counted among the higher class of the city's business men. 
Restrictions laid upon the liquor dealer were for many years very light, the license low and pen- 
alties few. But the evils of lightly restricted liquor traffic were registered in strong evidence of 
increase in crime and disorder, and all sorts of expedients to curb the evil — high license, local 
option and total prohibition — had their advocates. In 1887 there were 5573 licensed retail 
liquor dealers in Philadelphia county, and most good citizens agreed that there were too many. 
All over the State the liquor business was overdone. So the legislature passed the Brooks law. 
which Governor Beaver signed May 13, 1887, and which established the annual rate of liquor 
licenses thereafter at $500 in cities of the first, second and third classes; $300 in other cities; $150 
in boroughs and $75 in townships. It required that applicants for liquor licenses must be citizens 
of the United States, temperate in habits and of good moral character. The application was 
required to be made to the judges of quarter sessions, the petition to be accompanied by the names 
of at least twelve respectable electors resident in the neighborhood of the saloon, which certified 
the applicant's ability to conduct the business properly. The judges were to set a day to hear 
petitions for or remonstrances against the applicant. If satisfied with the character of the aiwli- 
cant and the location of the saloon, the judges could, in their discretion, grant the license for one 
year, and they could renew it yearly under the same conditions. Strict laws about closing on Sun- 
days and holidays, and against sales to children or to persons of intemperate habits, or sales on 
credit or for goods, wares, merchandise, provisions or anything but cash. Forfeiture of license 
and fines were the penalty for violation of the law, and severe punishment for any who should 
endeavor to sell without a license. A high license law for wholesalers with strong restrictions 
was passed and signed eleven days after the law for retailers, or on May 24, 1887. 

Upon the passage of this law many saloons at once discontinued business. Only 3431 retail 
dealers applied for licenses in 1888, and only 1343 of these passed judicial scrutiny; and out of 
517 applications for wholesale licenses 457 were successful. In 1889 the number was further 
reduced, only 1205 out of 3214 retail applications being granted. The law has, for the greater part 
of the time since the Brooks act was passed, been enforced faithfully. At any rate the improve- 
ment over the old conditions is very great. 

The great pile of public buildings known as the City Hall was started in 1871 and was to 
have been completed in ten years at a cost of $10,000,000, but it was more than thirty years in 
building and cost over $25,000,000. 

The new postoffice building, at Ninth and Chestnut Streets, was opened in January, 1884, 
and nearly three years later the old postof^ce, at Chestnut Street above the Customs House, was 
bought by Anthony J. Drexel, the banker, who also bought the old Philadelphia Library site, on 
Fifth Street, and adjoining properties, and built the Drexel Building, which, completed in 1888, 



286 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



was the finest building of its day, eclipsing the Ledger building, which had previously been the 
showplace of the town, as the Jayne Building had been still further back. 

Philadelphia has deserved fame as an educational center. The development of the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania has been continuous, and this institution, venerable in age and the alma 
mater of many distinguished alumni, has pursued a progressive course which has placed it in the 
front rank as an institution of learning. Other famous colleges of high repute have been built up 
around Philadelphia: Swarthmore College, in Delaware county, established in 1869; Bryn Mawr 
College, at Bryn Mawr, which is an especially high-grade college for young women, with a grad- 
uate school whose courses, leading to advanced degrees, attract patronage from many 
other colleges. 

Popular education has always been maintained at high grade in Philadelphia, and had its 
beginnings in the early days of Quaker settlement, and the city was a pioneer in establishing a 
modern public school system. The Central High School is known far and wide for its liberal 
curriculum and distinguished faculty and alumni. It was long located on the southeast corner of 
Broad and Green Streets, but in 1894 started its building on the southwest corner of the same 
intersection, which was completed and dedicated in 1902 with an address by President Roosevelt. 
Manual training has been a feature of the public school system since 1885, when the Central 
Manual 1 raining School was established at Seventeenth and Wood Streets. There are public 
schools conveniently located all over the city, and there are schools of art and special schools 
devoted to every branch of technical training. Temple University, the creation of Rev. Dr. Rus- 
sell Conwell, is an institution which aims to provide means of education to all who desire to 
learn and an open door of opportunity to many who would otherwise be barred access to higher 
learning. In the field of science Philadelphia is distinguished, its American Philosophical Society. 
Franklin Institute and Academy of Natural Science having each been among the earliest institu- 
tions in their respective classes. 

Philadelphia has long been, and still is, characteristically a "city of homes." Its distinction in 
this respect is due to its having early adopted and made popular the building and loan associa- 
tion. It thus found a way to house its families to a greater extent than any other American city 
in homes of their own, and the statistics show it to have more dwellings in proportion to popu- 
lation than any other of the larger cities in the United States. 




Tower of City Hai.l, showing Roof of Huiuhng 



CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE 



FROM lcS90 TO 1918— PERIOD OF THK CITY'S LARGER 
GROWTH— PHILADELPHIA IN THE WAR 

In the first months of 1890 Philadelphia lost by death its two most distino-uished 
members of Congress, who had represented it continuously from the Civil War period. William 
Darragh Kelley. who died January 9, 1890. after a continuous service of thirty years as Cono-ress- 
man from the Fourth Pennsylvania District, was a man of national reputation as well as local 
prominence. He was born in Philadeli)hia April 12, 1814, and was of Irish and French Huo-ue- 
not extraction. He attended school until he was 11 years old and was apprenticed to a jeweler 
from his fourteenth year until he reached his majority. He then followed his trade in Boston for 
live years, then resolved to return to Philadelphia and study law. He was admitted to the bar in 
1841. engaged in successful practice and in 1845 was elected prosecutor for the city and county of 
Philadelphia, held the ofifice for two terms and was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas 
of Philadelphia. Up to this time he had been a Democrat and a free-trader, but also a strong 
Abolitionist. In 1856 the Republican party was organized, and Judge Kelley joined it, resign- 
ing from the bench and becoming a candidate of the new party for Congress. He was defeated in 
that campaign and he resumed the practice of law, but in 1860 he was elected to Congress from 
the Fourth District. He remained in that body until he was "Father of the House" by being the 
oldest member in point of continuous service. He was especially conspicuous as the sturdiest 
advocate of high protective duties, and his earnest and constant championship of the pig-iron 
interest of his State caused him to be known familiarly as "Pig-iron Kelley." He had served 
on the committees on agriculture, naval afifairs. Indian affairs, weights and measures and Centen- 
nial celebration, and at the time of his death was a member of the committee on ways and means. 
He was an effective debater, lecturer and writer on the affairs of the day. His funeral, on Jan- 
uary Lx was attended by members of Congress and by many citizens. 

Samuel Jackson Randall, who died in Washington April 12, 1890, came wathin two years of 
serving as long in Congress as W^illiam D. Kelley, his Republican colleague. He was born in 
Philadelphia October 10, 1858, the son of Josiah Randall, a prominent lawyer, and of Ann 
(Worrall) Randall, whose father was a Democratic leader in Jefferson's time. After leaving 
the University Academy in Philadeljihia, he was in business for a time as clerk in a silk house 
and later as partner in the iron firm of Earp & Randall. He had a liking for politics and served 
tour years in the city council as an old-line Whig, but with the break-up of that party on the 
organization of the Repuljlican party in 1856 he aligned himself with the Democratic partv and 
was a delegate to the Cincinnati convention which nominated James Buchanan as president. In 
the Civil War he was a ninety-day volunteer in the First City Troop of Philadelphia, and later 
served again during Lee's invasion and was commissioned as captain and made provost-marshal 
daring the Ijattle of Gettysburg. He had, meanwhile, been nominated and elected to the Thirt}-- 
eighth Congress from the First Pennsylvania District a.'- a Democrat and re-elected biennially for 
twenty-eight years imtil his death. Though a Democrat, he was one of the strongest protection- 
ists in the country, but on all other questions w:is a leader of his party. His skill as a parliamenta- 
rian enabled him to prevent the passage of the Force bill which the Republican majority was 
trying to enact, and he came to the front as a leader from that time. In 1875 there was a Demo- 
cratic majority and Alichael C. Kerr was elected speaker, but died while in office. Mr. Randall 
was elected speaker at the second session of the Forty-fourth Congress, and in the Forty-fifth 
and Forty-sixth Congresses. He thus presided over the House during the contro\ersv over the 



288 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

(Iis])uted presidential election of 1876. He was a power in the House, and except for his protec- 
tionist sentiments would have doubtless been hi. party's nominee for president in 1880 or 1884. 
He was accounted one of the ablest statesmen of his time, and his service was especially valuable 
by his constant watchfulness against waste and extravagance in pulilic expenditures. 

On April 30, 1890, the Bank of America and its numerous branches suspended payments, and 
on the following day the Gloucester City National Bank suspended. This was followed by the sus- 
pension of the Fidelity Surety Trust and Safe Deposit Company, of Camden, and its branches 
throughout southern New Jersey. All these institutions were connected, through their officers, as 
was the American Life Insurance Company, which suspended business on May 10, 1890, in com- 
pliance with a writ of quo warranto issued by the attorney general of the State. Numerous 
suits were brought against the officers of the various institutions involved. Ex-Senator John J. 
Macfarlane, president of the American Life Insurance Company and of the Bank, was indicted, 
but absconded. After three years he returned and surrendered himself, pleading guilty to the 
indictment and was sentenced to the Eastern Penitentiary for four years by Judge Hare on 
May 31, 1893. 

( )n December 1, 1890, a run on the Keystone National Bank began. It was temjiorarily 
allayed, but finally led to the suspension of the bank, the exposure of its fraudulent methods and 
those of other bank officers and of City Treasurer Bardsley. It was closed March 20, 1891, by 
order of the comptroller of the currency, whos.^ later investigation showed gross frauds by the 
president, cashier and other officers. (Jn May 21. 1891, John Bardsley, treasurer of the city and 
county of Philadelphia, who was elected in 1888 and whose term would not have expired until the 
end of 1891, retired from the discharge of his duties on account of losses of State money placed 
by him in the Keystone National Bank (which failed in March, 1891), and tendered his resigna- 
tion, to take efifect on May 30. He was arrested on May 23 on the charge of misappropriating 
public funds. It was discovered that he had failed to pay over large sums collected for the State 
and that no adequate security had been given for their payment. The report of the attorney gen- 
eral of the State showed that judgment for unpaid license taxes had been obtained against Bards- 
ley to the amount of $394,010.40. From his bondsmen $120,000 had been recovered and from his 
depositaries, into which State moneys were traced. Of a $1,004,640 judgment recovered by Bards- 
ley's assignee against the Keystone National Bank, over one-fourth had been transferred to the 
Commonwealth by the assignee. 

Following the arrest of Treasurer Bardsley, Governor Pattison, on May 25, nominated Will- 
iam Redwood Wright as treasurer of Philadelphia, but Richard Oellers was, the following day, 
elected by the county commissioners, who denied the right of the governor to make an appoint- 
ment. On the following day city councils, which also claimed the right of appointment, elected 
Mr. Oellers, but the courts finally decided on June 12, 1891, that the power of appointment 
vested in the governor, and Mr. Oellers was ousted from the office, which was then assumed by 
William Redwood Wright. 

John Bardsley, on June 9, pleaded guilty to the charges against him and was sentenced on July 
2 to fifteen years' solitary confinement at labor in the Eastern Penitentiary and to pay fines aggre- 
gating $237,532. On January 25, 1893, the city treasurer paid $53,440 71 to contractors who had 
deposited with ex-City Treasurer Bardsley 10 p?r cent of the amr unt of their contracts, which 
deposits were lost in the wreck caused by his defalcation. 

In the city election of 1891 Edwin S. Stuart was the nr^mmee of the Republican party and 
was opposed by Albert H. Ladner as the Democratic nominee. Ex-Mayor William B. Smith, 
who had been nominated as an independent candidate, withdrew from the race and Mr. Stuart was 
elected by .1 plurality of 39,065 votes. He was inaun;urated April 6, and appointed James H. Win- 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 289 

(Irim as director of public works and (icorge Roncy as director of public safety. Mr. Roney's 
ai)pointment was subsequently withdrawn and Aljraham M. Beitler a])pointcd. 

Decoration day at Philadelphia on May 30. 1891, was made especially impressive by the par- 
ticipation in its exercises at Laurel Hill of President Harrison, Secretary of War Proctor, Secre- 
tary of the Navy Tracy, Postniastcr-(iencral Wanamaker and other public officials. The presi- 
dent made an address and held an informal reception at Independence Hall, and in the evening 
he was gi\en a supper and reception in the Uniion League. 

( )n May 8. 1891, the Spring Garden National Bank was closed by order of the cfjmptroller 
of the currency, and the Penn Trust and Safe Dcjjosit Company, which was connected with the 
l)ank. made an assignment. On August 17 Francis W. Kennedy, president, and H. II. Kennedy, 
cashier, of the Spring Garden National Bank, and Charles Lawrence, assistant cashier of the 
Keystone Bank, pleaded guilty to the charges ag linst them. The latter was sentenced to seven 
years' imprisonment and a fine of $100. The Kennedys were each sentenced, on September 15, to 
ten years' imprisonment in the Eastern Penitentiary. 

The Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry was formally dedicated on December 17, 
1891. Bishop Potter, of New York, offered the invocation and Chauncey M. Depew delivered the 
dedicatory oration. Wayne MacVeagh, on behalf of the donor, Anthony J. Drexel, presented the 
deeds of trust to the trustees, which were received by Dr. James MacAllister on behalf of the 
board of trustees. Bishop Whitaker, of Pennsylvania, pronounced the benediction. 

Conservatism long denied to women the privilege of equal access to the means of higher 
education, but modern progress has quite fully accepted the theory of equal opportunity in 
this respect. It was, however, a considerable step forward when the graduate department of the 
University of Pennsylvania was opened to women in 1892. 

A fire on April 27, 1892, originated in the Central Theater building. It destroyed the theater ; 
the Times newspaper office, on Sansom Street above Eighth Street, and several stores on Eighth 
Street. Six persons were buried in the ruins of the theater and seven persons in the audience 
were fatally injured. The money loss was about $1,000,000. 

A notable event of 1893 was the establishing of the American Line by the International 
Navigation Company by the taking over of the Inman Line and the addition of new ships under 
the American flag by the assistance of enabling legislation by Congress. On January 27 the 
company announced the dropping of the title, "Inman Line" and the substitution of that of "Amer- 
ican Line." It was also announced that the name of the ship City of Paris would be changed to 
Paris and the names of the other vessels of the line would be changed in similar manner. On 
April 19, 1893, a brilliant reception was given at the Union League to Clement A. Griscom, the 
president, and Joseph D. Potts, H. H. Houston, W. G. Warden and W. H. Barnes, the directors, 
of the International Navigation Company, for having restored the American flag to the mer- 
chant marine of the world. 

On January 29 the Philadelphia and Reading Railway formally opened its terminal 
at Twelfth and Market Streets to Main Line traffic. The road in the years following went through 
vicissitudes and reorganizations, but became finally one of the strongest roads, with this terminal 
a most important traffic center. 

Anthony J. Drexel, one of the most eminent of Philadelphia citizens, died on June oO, 1893, 
at Carlsbad, Austria. He was born in Philadel])hia September 13, 1826. Coming to the head of the 
Drexel banking institutions, he w^as long the foremost figure in the financial life of the city and 
one of the most influential in the country at large. Besides being a leading man of business and 
large interests, he was the instigator and helper of many things for the public welfare, notably 
as founder and creator of the Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry, which is one of the 
most important institutions of practical and technical training in the country. 



290 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




Philadelphia Hotels 

I— The Majestic. 2— Aldiiie. 3— Bingham House. 4 -Hellevue-Siratford. 

5 — Wallon. 6— Continental. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 291 

The building of the new navy, largely the result of the initiative of Secretary William C. 
Whitney, was to an important degree accomplished through Philadelphia shipyards, which, dur- 
ing the decade, witnessed severallaunchings. On December 2, 1891, the armored cruiser New 
York was launched from the shipyard of the Cramps in Philadelphia. It was claimed at the time 
to be the fastest and most powerful sea-going ship in the world. Its sponsor was Miss Helen Page, 
of New York. Mrs. Harrison, wife of the jiresident ; Vice President Levi P. Morton and his 
wife; Benjamin Tracy, secretary of the navy, and 40,000 spectators witnessed the launching. 

The battleshi]) Indiana, launched February 28, 1893, during a hailstorm from the Cramps' 
yards, ranked in size with the British battleships Victoria, Nile and Trafalgar, but was superior in 
power of armor and strength of armament to either. Her sponsor was Miss Bessie Miller, daugh- 
ter of the attorney general of the United States. President Harrison and more than 10.000 people 
witnessed the launching. The battleship Massachusetts w^as launched at Philadelphia on lune 
10, 1893, Miss Leila Herbert, datighter of the secretary of the navy, performing the christening. 

The armored cruiser Brooklyn was successfully launched at Cramps' shipyard on October 
2, 1893. Miss Ida May Schieren, daughter of Mayor Schieren, of Brooklyn, christened the vessel. 
The occasion brought a large assembly of spectators. The battleship Iowa, which was launched 
from the same yards on March 28 following, was one of the finest ships of the then "new navy." 
The Iowa and Brooklyn were soon to distinguish themselves amid the sea activities of the Span- 
ish-American War. 

Not all of the launchings of the period were of naval vessels. The new^ American Line 
steamer St. Louis, of the International Navigation Company's fleet, was launched in 1894 at the 
yards of the William Cramp & Sons' Ship and Engine Building Company, in the j^resence of 
President Cleveland, several members of his cabinet and many other distinguished men. Mrs. 
Cleveland christened the vessel. At the luncheon which followed toasts were responded to by 
President Cleveland; Charles H. Cramp, president of the Cramp Company; Secretary Carlisle, of 
the treasury department ; Clement A. Griscom, president of the International Navigation Com- 
pany ; Mayor W^albridge, of St. Louis, and Henry W^ Cramp. 

Another important launching from the sam? yards was that of the Japanese battleship Kas- 
sagi, launched January 20, 1894. All of these launchings were notable events of that period, these 
vessels then representing the highest types in their respective classes, though now superseded by 
many new and progressive ideas of marine and architecture. 

Various important public works were produced and completed during that period. One of 
interest was that of the Walnut Street bridge across the Schuylkill, work on which had begun on 
July 1. 1889. It was finally finished and the structure was formally opened to the public on Sun- 
day, July 16, 1893. Its cost was $725,000, exclusive of land damages, and it was said at the time 
to be the longest and most ornamental of the city bridges. 

The World's Columbian Exposition in Chicigo contained many exhibits from the institutions 
and industries of Philadelphia. There were various celebrations in the citv in honor of the quad- 
ricentennial of the discovery of Columbus, and the descendant of the great navigator, the duke of 
Veragua, came to the city, accompanied by the duchess. They were entertained at a reception 
by Mr. and Mrs. George W. Chikls on January 23, 1893. 

On April 25, 1893, the old Liberty Bell was started on its trip to Chicago for exhibition at 
the World's Columbian Exposition. Its return to its permanent resting place in Independence 
Hall was celebrated by a street procession on November 6 following. After the Libertv Bell had 
been to the W'orld's Columbian Exposition and back there was some agitation against the repeti- 
tion of the loaning of the bell to future expositions. W'hen the Atlanta Exposition was held and 



292 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

wished the bell to be sent there the opposition sought to prevent the transfer and any appropria- 
tion to pay the expenses of the transfer. Judge Thayer, in an exhaustive and interesting opinion, 
handed down August 20. 1895, held that not only was the transmission of the Liberty Bell to the 
Atlanta Exposition "a lawful and proper act. but the appropriation to pay the expenses of the 
transfer and committee is also lawful and obnoxious to no well-founded legal objection whatever." 
The bell was taken to Atlanta with an escort in October, 1895. 

George Washington Childs died on February 3, 1894, and it is probable that there was never, 
in Philadelphia at least, a private citizen who was more sincerely mourned. He was born in Balti- 
more May 12, 1829, and gained his early education in that city. When he was 13 years old he 
entered the United States navy and served in it for about fifteen months. He came to Philadelphia 
on leaving the navy, almost penniless and knowing only one family, which removed from the city 
a few days after his arrival. He obtained a place in P. Thomson's book store at a salary of $3 
per week. He worked early and late, and at the end of three years was getting $6 for his weekly 
salary ; and in his seventeenth year he attended the semiannual sales of books in New York, wdiere 
he made the acquaintance of the Harpers, Putnams, Ticknors, Fields, Appletons, Little & Brown 
and other publishers. At the age of 18 he established a small book store of his own in the 
Ledger Building, at the corner of Third and Chestnut Streets, which was a successful venture, 
and in 1849 he became a partner in the firm of R. E. Peterson & Co., the name of which was later 
changed to Childs & Peterson in order to differentiate it from that of another Peterson publish- 
ing house. 

That Inisiness was very successful until the year 18'60, when Mr. Peterson retired and 
Mr. Childs joined the firm of J. B. Lippincott & Co. He withdraw from that connection 
the following year, again engaging in the publishing business. ( )n December 3. 1864, he 
bought the Public Ledger, then in a decayed state, being issued with a daily loss of about 
$480 per issue. Pie labored successfully not only to save it and make it a success financially, 
but also to make it the most reliable of all newsjiapers. He was the closest friend of the 
late Anthony J. Drexcl and also enjoyed the friendship and confidence of General Grant 
and other great men. He was a great-hearted philanthropist, aiding many good and benevo- 
lent causes. He presented to the Typographical Pinion a large lot in W^oodlands Cemetery, 
and with Mr. Drexel started the fund with which the Childs-Drexel Home for Union 
Printers at Colorado Springs, Colorado, was built. 

He wanted to keep names of great writers and benefactors of the human race before 
the public, and with this in view he Ijuilt the Shakespeare Fountain at Stratford-on-Avon, 
put a Herbert Cowper memorial window in Westminster Abbey and the Milton window in 
St. Margaret's Church. London. Pie erected a monument over the grave of Proctor, the 
astronomer ; memorials to Leigh Hunt and Edgar Allen Poe and presented to West Point 
oil portraits of Grant, Sherman and Sheridan. ( )ne of his latest gifts of this kind was the 
Prayer Book Cross, near San Francisco, to mark the spot where Sir Francis Drake landed 
and where religious services in the English language were first held on the western shores 
of America. He was a liberal entertainer, and every distinguished foreigner who came to 
Philadelphia became his guest. Democratic manners and considerate and kindly ways made 
him highly esteemed by men of every station in life. 

On September 16, 1893, Henry S. Cochran, chief weigher at the mint, confessed to the theft 
of gold bullion valued at $134,093.40. He had secreted most of it in the mint building and eventu- 
ally the United States Government recovered the entire amount. Cochran was convicted of lar- 
ceny on November 22, and on December 11 was sentenced to serve a term of seven years and six 
months in the Eastern Penitentiary and to pay a fine of $1000 and costs. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 293 



Ihc bronze equestrian statue of (General (ieorge B. McClellan was unveiled October 24 1894 
with appropriate ceremonies in the presence of a distinguished gathering. Addresses were made 
by Major Moses Veale, chairman of the committee of arrangements of the McClellan Monu- 
ment Association ; General William Farrah Smith, General William B. Franklin ( lovernor Patti- 
son and Mayor Stuart. A parade, in which 15,000 men took part, including the National Guard of 
Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Grand Army of the Republic and the Sons of Veterans, was re- 
viewed by Major General Schofield, commander-in-chief of the United States army. 

On January 9, 1895, the Republican city convention nominated City Solicitor Charles F. 
Warwick for mayor by a vote of 684 against 233 votes cast for State Senator Boies Penrose 
Mr. Warwick had been assistant district attorney of Philadelphia county from 1881 to 1884 and 
city solicitor of Philadelphia from 1884 to 1895. The Democrats, on January 16, nominated ex- 
Governor Robert E. Pattison for mayor, and this nomination had strong inde])endent indorsement 
by the organization on January 29 of the "Anti-Combine Committee for the election of Robert E 
Pattison as mayor to secure a business administration of business affairs." Of this committee 
Weaker Wood was chairman ; Charles Richardson, vice chairman ; Herbert Welsh, secretary and 
Joel J. Baily, treasurer and chairman of the finance committee. The committee adopted a declara- 
tion of principles. But its efforts did not eft'ect the object, for in the election of February 19, 1895 
Charles F. Warwick defeated Robert E. Pattison for mayor by a vote of 137.863 to 76.879 or a 
plurality of 60,984 votes. 

An important event of 1895 was the formal opening, on February 22, of the Free Librarv 
of Philadelphia, with addresses by A. R. Spofford. librarian of Congress; Governor Hastings, 
Senator Boies Penrose, Speaker H. F. Walton and President Hartman, of common council. 

An illustration of the law's delay was furni-^hed by the libel case of William L. Smith, mnvor 
of Philadelphia from 1884 to 1887. Colonel Alexander K. McClure pursued him throuo-h the 
columns of the Times with special venom, and accused him of all sorts of dereliction. Councils 
took up the charges of the Times against the mayor, but the attempt at impeachment fell throuoh. 
Mayor Smith sued McClure for libel in 1887 and on April 17, 1895, recovered a verdict for 
$45,000. But through the further quips and turns of the law, the judgment remained uncollected. 

The administration of Edwin S. Stuart as mayor of Philadelphia had been a most successful 
one and won general commendation. After its close about 250 of the mo^t distinguished citizens 
of Philadelphia gave him a dinner on April 17, 1895, at the Union Leag.^e. John Wanamaker 
presided, and addresses were made by Mayor Warwick. Archbishop Ryan, Bishop \\'hitaker, 
William M. Singerly and others. 

The money question had protruded itself into the realm of political discussion in 1895, and 
on May 28 there was a great non-partisan mass meeting held in the Academy of Music in favor 
of sound money. President George B. Roberts, of the Pennsylvania Railroad, presided, and 
addresses were delivered by ex-Senator George F. Edmunds. ex-Comptroller of Currency \\^illiam 
L. Trenholm. ex-Congressman M. D. Harter and ex-Minister to Russia Charles Emory Smith. A 
Sound Money League was organized, with John H. Converse, of the Baldwin Locomotive 
Works, as president. There was probably no other city in the country in which the sentiment in 
favor of the single gold standard for coinage was more pronounced or outspoken during the 
period of the silver controversy than was Philadelphia. 

Richard Vaux, one of the most distinguished of Philadelphians, died on March 22, 1895. He 
was born in the city December 19. 1816. the son of Judge Roberts Vaux. He was educated bv 
private tutors and was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia in 1836. Soon after he was appointed 
bearer of dispatches to the United States minister in London, with whom he remained for a year 
as secretary of legation. During this period he had the honor of dancing with Queen Victoria 
at a court l^all in London. After aiding in reorganizing the United States embassy in Brussels. 



294 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



he returned to London and became private secretary to United States Minister Andrew Steven- 
son. In 1839 he returned to Philadelphia, and from 1842 to 1849 filled the office of recorder of 
deeds of Philadelphia. On January 7, 1842, he was appointed an inspector of the Eastern Peni- 
tentiary, and was elected secretary of the board at its first meeting. For more than fifty years 
he wrote every annual report of that institution, prepared nearly fifty volumes on the subject of 
penology and delivered numerous addresses on prison management. About the time of his 
appointment as penitentiary inspector he was elected comptroller of public schools to succeed his 
father. After being several times the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for mayor of the city, 
he was elected to the office in 1856 and completely reorganized the government of the city. In 
1858 he was chosen a director of Girard College, and in the following year became president of 
the board. Mr. Vaux was largely instrumental in framing and passing the act of 1885 (known as 
the "Bullitt" act) which, with some amendments, now constitutes the charter of the city of Phila- 
delphia. He was also a member of the Board of City Trusts. His last public service was as 
member of Congress, to which office he was elected May 12. 1890, to fill the unexpired term of 
Samuel J. Randall, deceased. 

During the Cuban insurrection in the years before the Spanish-American War there was 
a considerable amount of filibustering conducted by adventurers from the United States, and 
several expeditions of this kind were outfitted from Baltimore and Philadelphia. One of the 
cases in Philadelphia was that of the steamship Horsa, the officers of which were convicted of 
filibustering on February 23, 1896; and on March 8, 1897, Captain John B. Hart was sentenced 
to imprisonment and fine for engaging in a filibustering expedition to Cuba. 

The Pepper Laboratory of Clinical Medicine, the gift of Dr. William Pepper, was formally 
opened and presented to the trustees of the University of Pennsylvania on December 5, 1895. 
Addresses were made by Dr. J. S. BilHngs, Dr. W. H. Welch, of Johns Hopkins University, and 
by Provost Harrison. 

The Philadelphia Bourse was formally opened on December 30, 1895, by a banquet, at which 
500 persons, representing nearly every branch of trade and manufacture, were present. Addresses 
were made by President George E. Bartol, of the Bourse; United States Senator Hawley, of 
Connecticut ; Congressman Adams, C. Stuart Patterson and Charles Heber Clark. The following 
day the Bourse was dedicated and addresses were made by Mayor Warwick; Cyrus Borgner, 
chairman of the building committee ; President Bartol, Dr. William Pepper and John F. Lewis. 

On May 14, 1896. Thomas McKean, of the class of 1862, University of Pennsylvania, sub- 
scribed $100,000 to the use of the University, conditioned upon the raising of $1,000,000 within a 
specified time, which benefaction was later made effective. 

On May 1, 1896, Judge Acheson, of the United States Circuit Court, signed a decree for 
the sale of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company under the company's general mort- 
gage unless arrearages of interest should be paid in twenty days. The company's property, as 
well as that of the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company, was sold under foreclosure 
and was purchased for the reorganization managers, represented by J. P. Morgan & Co., of New 
York, who were the only bidders. On November 17 the Philadelphia and Reading Railway Com- 
pany was organized as successor to the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, with Jacob 
S. Harris as president. 

President McKinley visited the city on two noteworthy occasions in 1897. One was on May 
15, when he unveiled the Washington Monument and the second was at the formal opening of 
the Commercial Museums. The opening was attended by delegates from business organizations 
all over this country and from Central and South America. President McKinley. on June 2. de- 
clared the museums open as a national institution. On the same day Mr. McKinley made an 
address at the semicentennial celebration of the American Medical Association. 



Tin: STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



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296 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



m 



An equestrian statue of Washington, erected by the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati 
Philadelphia, was unveiled in Fairmount Park on May 15, 1897. In accordance with a reso- 
lution of the legislature, Governor Hastings proclaimed a public holiday, and the legislature 
attended in a body. 

A statue of Stephen Girard on the west plaza of the City Hall was unveiled May 20, 1897. 
The funds were contributed by the alumni of Girard College and the date of the unveiling was 
the 127th anniversary of the birth of Stephen Girard and the semicentennial of the completion 
and opening of Girard College. 

In 1897 the councils voted to lease the gas works of the city to the United Gas Improve- 
ment Company. Several suits in equity were filed to enjoin the execution of the lease, but it was 
decided by the court that there was no power to enjoin the lease, and it was signed by Mayor War- 
wick November 30, 1897. 

In the following year there were several attempts to put through bills in the city councils to 
transfer the water works by lease or sale to private corporations, and several charges of bribery 
were made against members of councils and agents of the lease-seeking corporation. One indict- 
ment was found, but after being in the courts for about a year by several postponements, the 
defendant was acquitted and other indictments that were sought were denied by the grand jury. 
On January 26. 1899, the common council, by unanimous vote, adopted resolutions proclaiming 
to citizens at laro-e that "our water works shall not be leased or sold," but select council defeated 
a motion to indefinitely postpone further consideration of an ordinance to dispose of the water 

works. 

The Chestnut Street National Bank, of Philadelphia, failed December 23, 1897. The 
Chestnut Street Trust and Savings Fund Company, the officers of which were identical with 
those of the bank, also closed its doors the same day. The failure was said to be caused by the 
loss of money in a large paper mill at Elkton, Md., owned by the president of the bank, William 
M. Sino'erly, who was also owner of the Philadelphia Record. The liabilities of the bank and 
trust company together aggregated about $3,000,000. Singerly died suddenly February 27, 1898, 
and William Steele, the cashier, was convicted in December, 1898, for false reports of the 
bank's condition and aiding the president in misappropriation of funds. 

The People's Bank, of Philadelphia, closed its doors March 25, 1898. The Guarantors' 
Finance Company made an assignment about the same time, and tlie cashier of the People's 
Bank, John S. Hopkins, committed suicide March 24. An examination revealed the fact that the 
cashier had loaned to the manager of the Finance Company sums still unpaid, aggregating about 
$600,000, without the knowledge of the other officers and directors of the bank, and that the 
siecurities for the loan were practically worthless. Richard F. Loper, vice president and general 
manager of the Guarantors' Finance Company, was placed under arrest March 28, charged with 
conspiracy to cheat and defraud the People's Bank. The People's Bank was a depositary for 
State and city funds, and at the time of its failure had more than $500,000 belonging to the State 
and more than $50,000 of city funds. The lialnlities of the bank were placed at $1,559,843 and 
the assets at $529,803. The president, Mr. McManes, promised to make good the losses. In con- 
nection with the failure, United States Senator Mathew S. Quay ; his son, Richard R. Otiay, and 
Benjamin ]. Haywood, ex-State treasurer, were indicted under five true bills November 21. 
They were charged with conspiracy to use unlawfully the money of the State on deposit in the 
People's Bank. The Supreme Court, late in 1898, granted a stay of proceedings, which had been 
denied in the lower court by Judge Finletter, who overruled demurrers to the indictment. The 
chief justice refused a petition to have the trial removed from the Philadelphia courts. The 
trial took place in April and resulted in the acquittal of Quay and his son April 21. Benjamin 
J. Haywood, the other defendant, had died on February 23, 1898. 



THE STORY OF r/lILAPELFHIA 29: 



The term of Senator Quay as United States Senator had expired, and the RepubHcans 
were divided as to his renomination. Many of the RepubHcans stayed away from the caucus at 
which he was renominated and refused to vote for him throughout the session. The balloting 
began on January 17, on which day Quay received his highest vote, 112. The seventy-ninth l^al- 
lot was taken /Vpril 19, when the legislature adjourned. ( )n the da\- of Oua\'s ac(|uittal (lov- 
enior Stone appointed him United States Senator. 

A Peace Jubilee was held in Philadelphia October 25 to 2(S', 1898, including a naval review, 
a procession of ships around the anchored ships of war, the Columbia, the Texas, the Glouces- 
ter and the Winslow ; an army review, a civic parade in which 25,000 men marched, a dinner 
and a reception. President McKinley and many members of the cabinet and army officers were 
present. On October 28 the old Independence Hall was rededicated. 

On June 30, 1899, Mayor Ashbridge and a party of Reading Railway officials and engineers 
occupied the tirst passenger train run over the entire length of the new subway. The American 
Society of Civil Engineers came into the Reading Terminal by way of the newly completed 
subway. 

A fire which started in the stores of Partridge & Richardson, on Eighth Street above Market 
Street, destroyed those buildings, the establishments of J. B. Lippincott Company, publishers, 
Filbert Street below Eighth, and Partridge & Son and Bailey & Co., Eighth Street below Filbert 
Street. It also damaged the stores of Lit Brothers, Strawbridge & Clothier, P. T. Hallahan, P. 
J. Hallahan, H. Mosebach & Son, Samuel D. Lang, F. W. Bean & Co., Artman & Freichler and 
others. The loss was about $1,500,000, and nearly 2000 persons were temporarily deprived of 
employment. 

On December 7, 1899, P. A. B. Widener, now deceased, purchased thirty-six acres of land 
fronting on Old York Road, near Logan Station, on which he afterward established the Widener 
Industrial Home for Crippled Children. An ordinance was introduced into city councils and sub- 
sequently passed to strike from the city plan streets which intersected the tract. 

The new Mint building in Philadelphia was formally accepted for the United States Govern- 
ment by Secretary of the Treasury Lyman Gage on June 13, 1901. 

Memorial services for the late President McKinley were held on September 19, 1901. the 
day of the funeral in Canton, Ohio, in churches of every denomination, in Girard College, the 
Academy of Music, and League Island, and there was a general suspension of business in Phila- 
delphia on that day. For the greater part of the day the main thoroughfares were crowded. For 
about ten minutes during the performance of the last rites at Canton trolley cars were halted, and, 
as far as practicable, there was a cessation of work on the several railroads entering the city. 

C^n March 10, 1902, in accordance with a prearranged programme. Prince Henry of Prussia, 
visiting Philadelphia, was tendered the freedom of the city by its mayor, visited Independence 
Hall and Cramps' shipyard, had luncheon at the Union League and returned to New York. 

In 1907 important additions w^ere made to the park system of Philadelphia by the addition 
of Cobbs and Pennypacker Parks and the development of boulevards and breathing spots in 
various sections of the city. 

On March 16 a bronze statue of Admiral Barry, the gift of the Friendly Sons of St. Pat- 
rick, was unveiled in Independence Square. 

Congress in 1907 refused a request made upon it by the city for a depth of 35 feet in the 
Delaware River, but increased the Delaware appropriation for a depth of 32 feet, thus insuring 
maintenance of a 30-feet depth. Provision was made for widening the channel at bends, and this 
work was completed in 1910. At the mayoralty election held in February, 1907, John E. Rev- 
burn, a member of Congress and the Republican candidate, was elected by a majority of 33,000 



298 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

over William Potter, the candidate of the Democrats and the City Party. The election of Mr. 
Reyburn was due to the power and influence of the Republican organization. 

The City Party, which opposed Reyburn, was the exponent of the reform movement which, 
in 1906, was ineffective to prevent the granting of a lease to the United Gas Improvement Com- 
pany. The City Party, while unsuccessful in the election of the mayor, made a considerable 
gain in both branches of councils. The strength of these members, however, was not sufficient 
to prevent, by a decisive majority, the making final the terms of the lease made in 1906 which 
had given the city the option of revoking it in 1907. 

The new city subway was opened for traffic on August 4, 1908. 

In October the city celebrated with festivals and pageants the 225th anniversary of its 
founding. 

Primary elections in Philadelphia on June 5, 1909, were made especially lively by the issue 
raised against the conduct of the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company. The candidates for 
nomination for district attorney were Samuel P. Rotan. who had the support of the regular Re- 
publican organization, and D. C. Gibboney, who was nominated by the reform element, includ- 
ing the Democratic and William Penn parties. It was charged that in spite of an agreement made 
in 1907 between the city and the Rapid Transit Company, the company had acted from time to 
time in an arbitrary fashion, and in particular its action in abolishing the "strip tickets" (six 
tickets for 25 cents). There was a large mass meeting, at which a Committee of Fifteen was 
appointed to enforce the side of the public. Mayor Reyburn, who in an interview minimized the 
public outburst, and State Senator Wolf, who as one of the city's representatives in the street 
railway corporation was considered as taking the company's side of the controversy, were spe- 
cial objects of the dissatisfaction expressed. Mr. Gibboney received the nomination of the Demo- 
cratic and William Penn parties, and had 56.000 votes in the Republican primary against 
61,000 for Mr. Rotan; but in spite of a most vigorous campaign made by Gibbony, he was 
defeated by a plurality of more than 45.000 votes in the election on November 2. The in- 
tense interest in this conflict, however, was manifested by the polling of the largest vote in 
the history of the city up to that time. The vote for Rotan was aided by the resignation of 
Senator Wolf from the street railway directorate and by instructions given to the city solicitor 
to take steps to enforce the reinstatement of the "strip ticket." 

The new system of water works for the city was put in operation on February 19. 1909, and 
filtered water from the mammoth filtration plant at Torresdale (the output of which was 200,- 
000.000 gallons daily) flowed through the city mains. 

On May 28, 1909, councils passed the measure advocated by Mayor Reyburn to provide for 
a widened parkway for the city, which was the beginning of the scheme by which a great boule- 
vard, extending from City Hall to Green Street, was to be built. 

The war department, in 1909, approved the recommendation of the board of engineers pro- 
viding for the 35-foot channel survey of the Delaware as a preliminary of the construction of 
such a channel which would put Philadelphia on a par with the world's greatest maritime 
centers. I 

In 1909 there was a strike of the trolley men, chiefly on the basis of a desired advance in 
wages, which was ended by a temporary agreement to expire June 1. 1910. pending some per- 
manent arrangement which should insure peace between the company and its employees. Negotia- 
tions were in progress in the early part of 1910, but no common ground was reached. Mean- 
while, a local union, known as the Keystone Union, was being formed among the men which was 
to be independent of the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees 
(the national body). Leaders of the national organization claimed that this new union was 
formed at the instigation of the company, and although the company denied this, bad feeling 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 2^>9 

developed, which was made more bitter when 173 men (who were members of the old union) 
were discharged. On February 19, 1910, the Amalgamated Association ordered a strike, which 
immediately paralyzed the transportation system of the city, as about 6000 men went out. The 
demand was for increased wages and that the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company bind itself 
not to recognize any union except the Amalgamated Association. On the second day of the strike 
Mayor Reyburn issued orders for the swearing in of 3000 special i)olice under the riot acts. But 
the regular police force, even when augmented by these special accessions, proved unable to re- 
store order. There were several days of rioting and disorder (claimed in most cases to have 
been carried on by sympathizers rather than the striking employees themselves). On February 
23 a force, of 185 members of the State's mounted constabulary was brought into the city and 
at once restored order. During the disorders several persons were killed and hundreds injured. 
The Central Labor Union called a sympathetic strike, and on March 7 60,000 union men in 
seventy-five trades obeyed the order. Rut the strike was broken from the time the State con- 
stabulary intervened, and gradually the cars resumed running. The company proposed certain 
conditions for resumption of work by all the striking carmen, and later these conditions were 
agreed to and the men returned to work. The conditions were that all of the men should be 
taken back; that the 173 discharged men should have their cases settled by arbitration; that the 
men should receive a wage of 23 cents per hour, with an increase of J^ cent per hour at the 
end of each period of six months until a rate of 25 cents per hour was reached; and that there 
should be no discrimination by employers or intimidation by employees on account of member- 
ship or non-membership in a union. 

The quality of urban transportation is an important factor in the social and industrial life of 
any city. The first surface lines in Philadelphia were constructed in 1854. Originally owned by 
separate, independent companies, these lines eventually became grouped under the control of 
various large companies, which, in turn, culminated in a single corporation, the Union Traction 
Company, formed in 1895 to take over the properties of the Philadelphia Traction Company, 
the People's Traction Company and the Electric Traction Company. Subsequently, the Union 
Traction Company acquired the property of the Hestonville Passenger Railroad Company and 
built various extensions and new lines. The Union Traction Company was absorbed by the Phila- 
delphia Rapid Transit Company by a 999-year lease. The Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company 
acquired the entire capital stock of the Market Street Elevated Passenger Railway Company, the 
Ridge Avenue Elevated Passenger Railway C/)mpany and that of other companies having fran- 
chises to build elevated lines in Frankford, on Passyunk Avenue, Germantown x-\ venue and 
other streets. The company also constructed the subway on Market Street, with elevated ex- 
tensions north of the Schuylkill River. 

Philadelphia has been constantly Republican in its political complexion from the days of 
the Civil War, and there are many men, even among the Republicans of the city, who claim that 
such overwhelming preponderance of party affiliation, applied in city elections, does not make 
for good government in municipal afifairs. Sometimes — though the instances have not been 
many — reform movements in city politics have succeeded in overcoming the eft'orts of the 
regular party organization, and in some cases the organization has produced a good city admin- 
istration. 

Charles F. Warwick, who had l)cen assistant district attorney of Philadelphia county from 
1881 to 1884 and city solicitor of Philadelphia from 1884 to 1895, was elected mayor in 1895 in 
succession to Mayor Stuart. Samuel H. Ashbridge was elected in 1899 by the phenomenal 
majority of 120,000 votes. He had previously held the office of coroner for thirteen years. He 
was succeeded by John Weaver, who had held the office of district attorney from 1901 to 1903. 
He held the office of mayor from 1903 to 1907. His successor, John E. Reyburn. mayor from 



300 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



1907 to 1911, had served in Congress several terms and resigned from Congress to enter upon 

nis term as mayor. 

During these administrations under the Bullit law there had heen absolute control of the city 
by a single party, and the party control was strongly held by a few party leaders. The city was 
practicaHy in the grip of the bosses and dissatisfaction was loudly voiced. Councils, strongly 
controlled by the party machine, paid little heed to the demands for reform which had become 
vocal, and of which Rudolph Blankenburg, who had been active in reform politics and questions 
of civic improvement from 18/7, was the spokesman. He had been elected county commissioner 
in 1905 in a great movement for reform of county administration, receiving a majority of 50,000 
votes, and effected valuable reforms, showing his disinterestedness by donating the three years' 
salary of that office ($15,000) to the police, firemen's and teachers' pension funds. In national 
politics he was a consistent Repuljlican, but he was an advocate of non-partisanship in State and 
municipal aft'airs. In 1911 he was put up as a non-partisan reform candidate for mayor, and 
behind him ranged an organization of influential citizens in solid array reminiscent of the days 
of the Committee of One Hundred. Strongly intrenched as the Republican organization had been 
in previous elections, the strength of the reform movement compelled recognition of the peril to 

machine control. _ , , . ■ , ■> ^^ t j 

The election for mayor in 1911 was mterestmg because of the issues involved, there had 
been a breach between the Republican organization, headed by Senator Penrose, and Mayor Rey- 
burn 'with the result of an investigation by a committee of the State Senate into charges of 
corruption in connection with contracts in the c^ty for street cleaning, street paving, the build- 
mcr of boulevards and the construction of a filtration plant. The primaries were held on Septem- 
ber 30 and were the first selections held under a new law providing for State and national elec- 
tions only in even-numbered years and municipal elections only in odd-numbered years. The Re- 
publican primary candidates for nomination for mayor were William S. Vare, brother of a con- 
tractor very largely interested in city contracts, and George H. Earle, Jr., the well-known law- 
yer Mr Vare was supported by Mayor Reyburn and was defeated by Mr. Earle (who was sup- 
ported by the regular organization) by 23,000 votes for the Republican nomination. Opposed 
was a fusion between the Democratic party and the Keystone party, which had been organized 
two years before ta combat alleged political corruption in State and city ; of this fusion the can- 
didates' in the primary were Rudolph Blankenburg and D. C. Gibboney, and Mr. Blankenburg 
won the nomination. George H. Earle, a lawyer and banker, who had been a member of the 
Committee of One Hundred and had been identified with various reform movements, was nomi- 
nated to oppose Mr. Blankenburg, but as the organization held responsible for the abuses com- 
plained of were solidly behind the Earle candidacy, the reform advocates ranged themselves 
with equal unanimity behind Mr. Blankenburg, who was elected and gave the city for four years 
a non-partisan administration of the city government which will long be memorable as a record 
of efficiency in the executive department of the city. 

llie reform movement depended so strongly on the character and personality of Mr. Blank- 
enburg that when his term expired (he being ineligible for re-election under the terms of the 
charte^r) there was no other around whom the reform element could be so successfully rallied. 
The organization, therefore, was able to elect its candidate, Thomas B. Smith, the present 

incumbent. 

It is not within the province of this narrative to discuss the merits, pro and con, of the 
local issues of the recent past. The vital interests of the city, so far as their progress is con- 
cerned, are very definitely affected by the efficiency and loyalty to the city's interest of its local 
administration, and these are best exhibited when the common interest rather than any question 
of partisan expediency controls the actions of mayor, councils, police and all the departments and 
entire personnel of the city government. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



:!01 




I — Methodist Episcopal. 



Philadelphia Hospitals 
2 — St. Agnes. 3 — German. 4 — Hahneman. 
Chirurgical. 6 — Pennsylvania 



5 — Medico- 



CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO 



PHILADELPHIA BEFORE AND DURING GREAT 

WORLD WAR 

In 1907 important additions were made to the park system of Philadelphia by the acquisi- 
tion of Cobbs and Pennypacker Parks and the development of boulevards and breathing spots 
in various sections. 

Important progress was also made in the development of deep-water channels in the Dela- 
ware during the same year. Congress refused the request for a depth of 35 feet, but increased 
the Delaware River appropriation for a dredge depth of 32 feet, thus insuring the maintenance 
of a channel depth of 30 feet. Provision was also made for widening the channel at bends. The 
work was completed under that appropriation in 1908. 

The Market Street Subway was opened on March 4. 1907, as part of the system of rapid 
transit development. By an act of the legislature the city was authorized to enter into a contract 
with the Rapid Transit Company along lines which had been suggested in the plan drawn up 
by the Retail Merchants' Association. An existing ordinance, which by making the tenure of the 
company uncertain had adversely affected its interests, was repealed by councils and a new con- 
tract was finally ratified to continue for fifty years. By its terms the mayor and two others are 
to represent the city as members of the board of directors of the company. 

The Frank Thomson scholarships were established by Miss Anne Thomson, Frank Graham 
Thomson and Clarke Thomson, children of the late Frank Thomson, formerly president of the 
Pennsylvania Railroad Company, May 6, 1907. The income of the fund is to be used to give 
the sons of living or deceased employees of the Pennsylvania lines east and west of Pittsburgh 
an opportunity to secure a technical education to better qualify them for employment by the 
Pennsylvania Railroad lines. Upon the request of the donors, the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- 
pany has undertaken to provide for the selection from time to time of the persons to receive the 
benefit of the scholarships under the trust fund. Right scholarships are to be provided for a 
period of four years each. 

The one hundredth anniversary of the Farmers and Mechanics' National Bank occurred in 
May, 1907. This bank, which was organized in 1807. began business in a leased building, then 
No. 102 Chestnut Street, and situated between Third and Fourth Streets. In 1819 it moved to the 
site of its present building, opposite the United States Customs House. The structure then occu- 
pied was the Lawrence mansion, which is said to have been occupied by General Howe durmg 
the occupation of Philadelphia by the British in the Revolutionary War. The bank was organ- 
ized as a State bank, but subsequently became a national bank. The first statement, issued May 
7. 1807, showed resources of $102,028.69, and the statement issued May 7, 1907. showed re- 
sources of $20,293,328.64. The centennial anniversary was commemorated by an historical ex- 
hibition, in which a large number of interesting papers and relics associated with the history of 
the bank were shown. 

The marble statue of George Washington was erected in front of Independence Hall by 
the public school children of Philadelphia inl869. and having become injured by exposure to 
the weather, was, by joint resolution of city councils, approved July 20, 1907. contracted to be 
removed to the City Hall and its replacement on the original site by a bronze replica. The 
sum necessary for the cost of this removal was raised by public subscription secured by the 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 303 

Public Ledji^er. with the co-operation of a coiiiniittee of councils and citizens created by the 
action of the city councils and appointed by the mayor. The Public Ledger had formed a 
"Society for the Preservation of the Washington Statue" for the purpose of carrying out this 
imdertaking, including the securing of funds for the purchase of the bronze replica. 

A tablet to the memory of Dr. Mary Putnam Jacobi was unveiled in the Woman's Medical 
College of PennsyKania May 23, 1907. Doctor Jacol)i was one of the most eminent women of 
her time in the medical profession. She was graduated from the Woman's Medical College of 
Pennsylvania in 1864 and was president of the Alumnae Association from 1888 to 1891 and 
again from 1894 to 1905. She was a member of the class of 1871 of the Ecole de Medecine, of 
Paris ; professor of materia medica and therapeutics in the Woman's Medical College of the 
New York Infirmary; professor of the diseases of children in the New York Post-Graduate 
Medical College and Hospital and a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine. Doctor 
Jacobi was a distinguished contributor to medical literature. The tablet was the gift of the 
alumnae of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania. 

The dormitory building of the University of Pennsylvania was named in June, 1907, in 
honor of Caesar Augustus Rodney. Rodney was a distinguished figure in the history of the State 
of Delaware. He was born in that State in 1772 and died at Buenos Ayres, South America, in 
1824 while United States minister at that place. He received the degree of master of arts from 
the University of Pennsylvania in 1789. He was attorney general of the United States from 
1807 to 1811 ; Senator of the United States from 1822 to 1823; was captain of a Delaware com- 
pany in the War of 1812 and served his State and nation in other important capacities. 

The bequest of the sum of £1000 ($5000) to the city of Philadelphia by Dr. Benjamin 
Franklin, to be loaned and kept at interest for a hundred years, was some time since offered to 
the city for the erection of an art gallery. No action toward this end having been taken by the 
municipality, the accumulated assets of the fund, amounting to about $125,000, was, by resolution 
of the board of directors of City Trusts in April, 1907, appropriated toward the new building of 
the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania, with the city of Philadelphia as trustee. 

A tract of woodland situated between Harvey Street, West Walnut Lane and Lincoln Ave- 
nue, containing about 2^ acres, was the gift of Mrs. H. H. Houston, Mrs. Charles W. Henry, 
Mrs. George Woodward, Samuel F. Houston and Bayard Henry, and it was accepted by the 
commissioners of Fairmount Park May 10. 1907. The property, known as Clifford Park, bounded 
by Lincoln Drive, Johnson Street, Wissahickon Avenue and Washington Lane, was the home- 
stead of the late George Clift'ord Thomas, by whom it was bequeathed to the city of Philadelphia. 
It was accepted by the Park commissioners Jtm? 14, 1907. 

The one hundredth anniversary of the creation of the Roman Catholic diocese of Pennsyl- 
vania was celebrated April 22 to 24, 1908. Little is known of the earliest periods of Roman 
Catholicism in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. The of^ce of the mass appears to have been cele- 
brated here at occasional intervals, but it was not until the Rev. James Greaton, S. J., began the 
erection of St. Joseph's Chapel that a definite date and event is recorded. Father Greaton pur- 
chased the land for his chapel in 1729, and the first mass was celebrated in it on February 8. 1732. 
The diocese of Philadelphia was created by Pope Pius VII on April 8, 1808, when the Rev. 
Michael Egan, O. S. F.. was appointed the first bishop. He was consecrated in Baltimore on 
October 28, 1810. He made St. Mary's Church liis pro-cathedral. At that time there were four 
Roman Catholic churches in Philadelphia and six priests ; outside the city there were seven 
churches and seven priests. St. John's Church served as the pro-cathedral under Bishop Ken- 
rick, who, in 1845, began the work of erecting the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, which 
has since been the Cathedral of Philadelphia. Its cornerstone was laid on September 6, 1846 ; 
it was blessed on November 20, 1864. Philadelphia was made a metropolitan see in 1875. 



304 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




Philadelphia Church Buildings 

1 — Friends' Meeting House. 2 — The Advocate (Episcopal) 3 — Keneseih Israel. 

4— .\rch Street M. E. Church. 5 — Bethany Presbvterian Church. 6 — Grace Baptist Temple. 

7— Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 305 



and on June 17 the then bishop, Right Rev. James F. Wood, Ijecanie the hrst archbishop of 
Philadelphia. The Cathedral was consecrated June 30, 1890. The archdiocese embraces the 
counties of Philadelphia, Berks. Bucks, Carbon, Chester, Delaware. Lehigh. Montgomery, 
Northampton and Schuylkill, and covers an area of 5043 square miles, height dioceses now 
occupy the territory originally that of the old Philadelphia diocese of 1808. 

Several important anniversaries were celebrated in 1908, including the semicentennial of the 
street car in commemoration of the fact that the hrst street passenger railway car in Philadelphia 
was run over the lines of the Fifth and Sixth Streets Company on January 21, 1858. That line 
ran from Cherry (now Berks) Street in Kensington to Morris Street in South wark alono- Fifth 
and Sixth Streets (down Sixth and up Fifth). The fare was 5 cents. On March 23, 1908, was 
commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the formal organization, on March 23, 1858, of the 
Clearing House Association of Philadelphia; and on October 15, 1908, was the seventy-fifth 
anniversary of the founding, on October 15, 1833, of the Philadelphia Board of Trade. The Penn- 
sylvania Bible Society celebrated its centennial on May 7, 1908. 

On February 18, 1908, an election for city solicitor, city magistrates and other city officials 
was held. The contest was between the "reform" element and the regular Republican organiza- 
tion, the latter scoring a decisive victory, being successful in every district save one, where a 
"reform" councilman was elected. Among the defeated aspirants for a seat in the council was 
Owen Wistar. the writer. One of the most important actions of councils during the year was 
the passing of ordinances providing for the expenditure of $1,500,000 for port improvements. 

The vote of the city in the presidential election on November 3, 1908, showed the ascendency 
of Republicans in Philadelphia, there being 184,469 votes for William Howard Taft and 7Z,779 
votes for William Jennings Bryan. 

The commemoration of the 225th anniversary of the founding of Philadelphia was observed 
throughout the week of October 4 to 10. 1908. in a series of events that may rightly rank among 
the most brilliant and most successful civic festivals ever carried out in America. The programme 
comprised a full week of seven days, and embraced not only a notable series of large events, but 
included also many lesser commemorations, local festivities, social functions, memorial exercises, 
historical exhibitions and the like. 

On October 3 occurred the dedication of memorial lampposts at the City Hall plaza. They 
commemorated the various twenty-eight districts, townships and boroughs which were consoli- 
dated with the old city of Philadelphia in 1854. They were lighted by young schoolgirls from 
the public schools in these districts. October 4 was given over to religious observances, with 
special exercises in many churches, services at the Penn Treaty Monument, municipal service at 
Gloria Dei (Old Swede's) Church, attended by the mayor and city officials; military service in 
Old Christ Church, attended by the governor of the State and representatives of the army and 
navy, and other special commemorations. October 5 was set apart as Military day, and there 
was a military parade. The striking of the new city seal went into etTect on this day, and there 
was a municipal celebration at the Academy of Music in the evening. October 6 was designated 
as Municipal day, and there was a parade of the police and fire departments of the city. The 
cornerstone of the German Settlers' Monument was laid at Germantown. There was a German 
celebration at the Academy of Music in the evening, and a clergymen's meeting of all denomi- 
nations at the Friends' Meeting Flouse, Fifth and Race Streets. 

October 7. which was Industrial day, was celebrated with an industrial parade illustrating, 
by means of picture floats, the progress and achievements of industrial Philadelphia ; and there 
was a parade of labor organizations in the evening. Children's and Naval day were combined 
to make up the programme of October 8. There were patriotic exercises by school children in 



306 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Independence Hall, a review of United States and foreign war vessels in the harbor, a river 
pageant and a parade of the Improved Order of Red Men in the evening. 

On Historical day, October 9, came the culmination of the celebration in an historical page- 
ant illustrative of the history of Philadelphia from the time of the first Swedish and Dutch set- 
tlements to the present. It was arranged under the artistic direction of Miss Violet Oakley, and 
represented a vast amount of work and effort, as well as historical research. It was the first 
historical pageant to be presented in the United States, and as the rich pictures unfolded them- 
selves to the delighted crowds that thronged Broad Street from end to end it was greeted with 
great enthusiasm and prolonged applause. 

The history of Philadelphia was presented in nine leading divisions, each of which included 
many separate tableaux. First, Indians and Early Settlers ; second, William Penn and 
the Quakers; third. Colonial Philadelphia; fourth, the Revolution ; fifth. Under the Constitution ; 
sixth, the City from 1800 to 1860; seventh, the Civil War; eighth, the Centennial; ninth, the 
City Beautiful. On the evening of this day there was a parade of the Patriotic Order of the Sons 
of America. October 10, the last of the celebration, was designated Athletic and Knights Tem- 
plar day, and the events of the day were: International chassis automobile race, 200-mile con- 
test in Fairmount Park ; parade of horsemen ; Founders' Week athletic celebration at the Phila- 
delphia Ball Grounds ; parade of the Knights Templar ; boating carnival and national regatta on 
the Schuylkill River ; fireworks in Central Park, and a final celebration at City Hall, under the 
auspices of the Knights Templar. 

On February 19. 1909, the new system of water-works for the city was put in operation, 
and filtered water from the mammoth filtration plant at Torresdale was turned into the city 
mains, the output of that plant being estimated as over 200,000,000 gallons daily. In this year 
also the war department approved the recommendation of the board of engineers, providing for 
a 35-foot channel survey of the Delaware River, this being the depth necessary to place Phila- 
delphia on a par with the other great seaports of the world. 

The 150th anniversary of the Germantown Academy occurred on December 6, 1909. In com- 
memoration of this event a memorial tablet was al^xed to the old house. No. 6019 Main Street, 
the inscription on which reads : "The Public School of Germantown, the Germantown Acad- 
emy, was organized at a meeting of citizens held the sixth day of December, 1759, in this build- 
ing, the home of Daniel Mackinett. and sometimes known as the Green Tree Inn. It was erected 
by the undergraduates of Germantown Academy and the Site and Relic Society of Germantown 
December 6, 1909." 

The 100th anniversary of the Walnut Street Theater occurred on February 2'. 1909. The 
theater was built in 1808, but no performance took place in it until February 2, 1809. Even this 
was a postponement from the date originally set. January 31. The theater seems to have been 
originally built for a circus, and the first performance was an equestrian exhibition. The circus 
was open only two nights in the week— Tuesday and Thursday — the nights on which no per- 
.formance was given at the Chestnut Street Theater. The performances began at half -past 6 
o'clock and the prices .of admission were: Boxes, $1 ; pit. 75 cents, and gallery, 50 cents. 

The primary elections held in Philadelphia on June 5. 1909. were particularly significant 
because of the agitation in regard to the conduct of the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company, 
which operates all the street railways of the city. The candidates for the respective nominations 
for district attorney were Samuel P. Rotan. who had the support of the regular Republican 
organization, and D. C. Gibboney, who was nominated by the reform element, including the 
Democratic and William Penn parties. Mr. Gibboney developed remarkable strength in the pre- 
nomination campaign, in which it was alleged that in spite of an agreement made m 1907 
between the city and the Rapid Transit Company, the company had acted in arbitrary fashion in 



Tim STORY or riUL.lDTTTJ/Tl 307 

many ways, and in ])articnlar in aholishins; the "strip tickets" (six tickets for 25 cents). This 
action of the Rapid Transit Company had aroused much pubhc resentment, and a great mass 
meeting took up the subject and ap])ointed a Committee of Fifteen to prosecute the interest of 
the jiuhhc in the matter. The excitement increased when Mayor Reyljurn, in an interview, 
sj)oke of the pubhc outburst as a matter of httle imjiortance ; and there was also much dissatis- 
faction over the fact that Senator Wolf was a representative of the city on the board of the 
street corporation. 

The campaign was still on when the men employed on the cars of the Philadelphia street 
railways went out on a strike on account of dissatisfaction with wages and arrangement of 
hours. Another grievance against the company was its rule that the uniforms of tlie carmen ha^ 
to be bought from a designated firm. The company, which had just amiounced an advance of 1 
cent per hour in the pay of its men, at first refused to negotiate with the representatives appoint- 
ed by the strikers. Public sympathy was largely with the men, who had declared their willing- 
ness to return to work just as soon as the company should express its purpose to negotiate with 
the representative of the carmen. 

Mayor Reyburn at first endeavored to persuade the men to return to work, on the ground 
that they were quasi-public servants. But the strikers represented that the companies were cer- 
tainly as much public servants as the men they employed. The strikers at this time secured re- 
inforcement by the going out of the men of the ele\'ated railways. 

The political issues of the campaign and the public sympathy with the men's side of the 
controversy with the company caused considerable political pressure to be l^rought to bear. Mayor 
Reyburn olfered his services as an intermediary and the company yielded. The day before the 
primary election the compan}' agreed to take up with the representatives of its employees the 
question of hours and working conditions, conceded the right of employees to buy uniforms from 
any of five clothiers and agreed that all former employees should be taken back and the announced 
advance in wages should stand. 

In the primary Mr. Gibboney secured over 20,000 votes from the William Penn party and 
became its nominee without opposition. He was also the nominee of the Democratic primary, 
receiving 9000 votes, and in the Republican primary received over 56,000, or only about 5000 
votes less than Mr. Rotan, who became the Republican nominee. The resignation by Senator Wolf 
of his position as representative of the city in the street railway corporation removed another 
factor of the public dissatisfaction. Mr. Gibboney, as the nominee of the Independent and Demo- 
cratic tickets, was defeated in the election by Mr. Rotan by a plurality of over 45,000 votes. 

Perhaps the most notable strike of woman workers this country ever knew was that of the 
shirtwaist makers, wdiich began in November, 1909. in New York. More than 40.000 women were 
involved in the strike there, which was not settled until February. 1910. The strike elicited great 
sympathy from the public in New York and ended in the complete victory of the women. The 
shirtwaist makers of Philadel]:)hia, to the number of 7000, went out on strike on December 20, 
1909, primarily in sympathy with their sisters in New York, but not without various grievances 
of their own. The strike was terminated on February 6. 1910. by an agreement which eliminated 
many of the grievances complained of and improved working conditions in the factories. 

The Provosts' Tower in the University of Pennsylvania was erected in 1910. This magnifi- 
cent l)uilding is dedicated to the provosts of the University, whose names, with their terms of 
service, are inscribed upon the medallions, viz. : William Smith. 1755-1791 ; John Ewing, 1780- 
1802; John McDowell, 1807-1810; John Andrews. 1810-1813; Frederick Beasley, 1813-1828; 
Andrew Heathcote De Lancey. 1828-1833; John Ludlow, 1834-1853; Henry Vethake, 1854- 
1859; Daniel Raynes Goodwin. 1860-1868; Charles Janeway Stille, 1868-1880; William Pepper, 
1881-1894; Charles Custis Harrison. 1894-1910. 



308 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



The statue of General John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg was unveiled on the plaza of the City 
Hall October 6, the gift of the German Society of Pennsylvania to the city of Philadelphia. Gen- 
eral Muhlenberg, better known in American history as General Peter Muhlenberg, was born at 
Trappe. Pa., October 1, 1746. He was ordained a clergyman in 1772 and preached at Woodstock, 
Va., until the breaking out of the Revolutionary War. He electrified his congregation in his 
farewell address from the pulpit, when he declared, "There is a time to preach and a time to 
fight, and now is the time to fight." discarding at the moment his preacher's gown and display- 
ing a soldier's uniform beneath. The regiment he then formed was composed largely of his con- 
gregation and was known as the Eighth X'irginia (German) Regiment. Muhlenberg became a 
brigadier general in 1777 and took part in the battles of the Brandywine, Germantown, Mon- 




SCHOOL OF iNDUSTRIAIv ART 



mouth and the storming of Stony Point. He was chief in command in Virginia in 1781 until the 
arrival of Steuben and was second in command to Lafayette in resisting an invasion of that 
state by Cornwallis. He commanded a brigade of light infantry at Yorktown and was made a 
major general at the close of the war. Then he returned to Pennsylvania, became a member of 
the Supreme Executive Council (1784), vice president of the State (1785), was a member of 
Congress for much of the time between 1789 and 1801 and United States senator in 1801. He 
died near Philadelphia October 1, 1807. 

The fiftieth anniversary of the Philadelphia Drug Exchange occurred on January 26, 1911. 
This organization had its origin at a meeting of the wholesale drug trade on January 22, 1861. 
Its object was to break down the jealousy and distrust with which many persons and firms in 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 309 

this business regarded each otlier. to unite for the protection of their joint interests and to pro- 
duce measures for the mutual benefit of all concerned. The exchange was incorporated April 
5. 1862. 

The election for mayor in Philadelphia in 1911 brought a culmination to many cflforts that 
had been made to discredit the ruling organizatiDU. Though under fire in each election, the heavy 
preponderance of Republican voters had carried the organization through many a hard-fought 
battle. The charge was made that large contractors of Republican affiliations had profiteered by 
contracts for street cleaning, street paving, the construction of boulevards and the building of 
the filtration plant. There was an investigation, but it had decided nothing. The primaries were 
held on September 30, 1911, and each of the parties (one the Republican and the other a combi- 
nation of the "Keystone" party with the Democrats) had two candidates. The Republican can- 
didates were William S. Vare, brother of a contractor largely interested in city contracts, and 
George H. Earle, Jr., a prominent lawyer who in several pre\ious campaigns had been a mo<t 
active exponent of reform j^rinciples. In the Keystone-Democratic primary the choice was between 
D. C. Gibboney, who had made the fight for district attorney in 1909, and Rudolph Blankenburg, 
who had been for many years a sturdy fighter in the reform ranks. Earle won the Republican 
and Blankenburg the fusion nomination, and Mr Blankenburg carried the election by a vote of 
4000 over Mr. Earle. 

Mr. Blankenburg succeeded in introducing many measures of ef^ciency and economy, but 
found that many of his eiTorts, especially those designed to secure economy, were largely weak- 
ened by the action of councils. In the election of November. 1913, he and his followers strove to 
secure the election of candidates for district attorney, city treasurer, register of wills and 
receiver of taxes who would be in harmony with his reform plans, and to secure control of coun- 
cils so as to replace political by business management. But his hopes in this direction were 
doomed to disappointment. The Republicans were victorious in electing their candidates to the 
offices named and also secured a majority of theCommon Council. 

The presidential election of 1912 was interesting in Philadelphia, as elsewhere, because of 
the split in the Republican party brought about by the creation of the Progressive party and the 
candidacy of Mr. Roosevelt as the presidential choice of that party. The State of Pennsylvania 
gave its electoral vote for Mr. Roosevelt. 

The fiftieth anniversary of the Union League took place November 15, 1912. This famous 
club originated as the Union Club at a meeting held November 15, 1862. This organization main- 
tained an independent existence until November 21, 1865; but meanwhile its members had, on 
December 27, 1862, adopted the articles of association of a larger organization, which was 
planned to have a home of its own and which took the name of the Union League. 

The one hundredth anniversary of the Pennsylvania Company for Insurance on Lives and 
Granting Annuities took place January 15. 1912 This company was founded in 1809 and was 
chartered in 1812'. The company entered the field of trust company operations in 1836, when, by 
an amendment to its charter, authority was granted to receive and execute trusts of any descrip- 
tion. From 1812 to 1836 it had, as its title implies, conducted exclusively a business of life insur- 
ance and of granting annuities. This business was discontinued entirely after 1872, since which 
date the banking, trust and safe deposit features have occupied its attention. 

In the early part of 1913 there was a considerable discussion of the question of the cost of 
living. The Housekeepers' League debated the question of establishing co-operative stores, and 
later an investigation was ordered in regard to the rise in the price of coal. 

On October 25, 1913, there were impressive ceremonies in connection with the rededication 
of Congress Hall, including a parade reviewed by President Wilson, a memorable address by the 
president and a speech by Hon. Champ Clark, speaker of the House of Representatives. 



310 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



In the election on November 4, 1913, the RepubHcan oro^anization defeated the Independent 
fusion, electing all the county officers and the munici])al court judges, these being all the officials 
to be chosen at that election. 

In Philadelphia, as throughout the country, there was an outcry against the increase of vice. 
A vice commission was appointed, the report of which, with statistics and recommendations, 
showed many things in language so plain that it was regarded as unmailable by the postoffice 

authorities. It declared segregation to be a failure and urged the teaching of sex hygiene in 
schools. The vice theme continued urgent, and one result was an order by Mayor Blankenburg, 
in March, 1914, for the segregation of unescorted girls at iilm shows. 

The one hundredth anniversary of the Friends' Asylum for the Insane occurred on June 4, 
1913. This admirable institution owes its origin to proposals made in the Yearly Meeting of 
Friends held in Philadelphia in the spring of 1811 "to make provision for such of our members 
as may be deprived of the use of their reason." Subscriptions were invited, and at a meeting of 
the subscribers on April 14, 1813, it was resolved to proceed with the undertaking. Land was pur- 
chased in Frankford in September of that year, buildings were erected and the institution was 
opened for patients on May 5, 1817. Since 1834 the institution has been open to patients not of 
the Society of Friends. 

There were five strikes in May, 1913, the most threatening being that of the longshoremen, 
which was made more dangerous by the inflammatory utterances of I. W. W. agitators. But 
after little more than a week of idleness the strike was settled. 

The one hundredth anniversary of the Classis of Philadelphia occurred June 22, 1914. The 
Cassis of Philadelphia was organized in 1814 in accordance with the action of the Particular 
Synod of New York, at its meeting held in that city May 3, 1814, when it was "Resolved, That 
the congregation in the city of Philadelphia and the congregations of North Branch, Shannick, 
Harlingen and North and South Hampton, together with their present ministers, be and hereby 
are constituted into a new Classis, to be known by the name of the Classis of Philadelphia ; and 
that the Rev. Peter Studdiford be appointed Primarius. and the Rev. Peter Labagh. Secundas, 
to preach a sermon in the said city and to organize said Classis on the Fourth Wednesday in June 
next, or as soon thereafter as practicable." 

The one hundredth anniversary of the National Bank of Germantown occurred on August 
3, 1914. The first meeting looking to the organization of this bank, originally known as the Bank 
of Germantown, was held in Michael Riter's King of Prussia Tavern January 20, 1814. On 
June 13 in that year the board of directors held its first meeting. Suitable premises were soon 
acquired and the bank opened for business August 1, 1814. The original charter under the law 
of 1814 having expired by limitation, it was renewed in 1824, in which year also a new location 
was chosen for the bank. In 1864 it became a national bank under the national law. A new 
building was used by the bank in 1868 and was occupied until 1899, when the present banking 
structure was erected, to which further additions were made in 1908. 

On July 31, 1914, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange closed because of the European war. 
and it did not open again for 122 days. It was a fortunate thing that during that period the 
financial authorities adopted measures that prevented the demoralization of markets and the too 
rapid "dumping" of securities. It was fortunate, too, that the organization of the Federal Reserve 
Bank buttressed the credit and security of the various sections of the country in a way that, dur- 
ing the many financial perplexities that followed, furnished an avenue of safety and soundness. 

The beginning of the war in Europe had an immediate efifect in the departure overseas of 
foreign-born residents who were reservists. Director Harte, of the department of health and 
safety, protested, August 6, against recruiting reservists for service abroad, saying he feared that 
families would be left destitute. 



THE STORY OF I'/I ILADELPHIA 311 

On September 21, 1914. Hon. Josephus Daniels, secretary of the navy, broke ground for 
new shipways in the League Island Navy Yard, Philadelphia. On December 8, 1914, it was 
reported that half the wage-earners of Philadelphia were out of work. 

In 1914 the most interesting feature of the State election was in the contest for governor, 
in which Martin G. Brumbaugh was the l\epul)lican ruid Nance McCormick, later ambassador 
U) I'^rancc. was the Democratic candidate. Air. l')ruml)augh had the indorsement of the Key- 
stone party and Mr. McCormick that of the Washington party. Mr. Brumbaugh, who was 
elected, carried the city by about 100.000 plurality. He had been for many years the superintend- 
ent of the city schools of Philadelphia and was a popular candidate. He was inaugurated on 
January 19, 1915. 

The seventy-fifth anniversary of the Central High School occurred January 24-February 1. 
As this famous school first opened its doors on October 26, 1838. its seventy-fifth anniversary 
properly fell in 1913; the development of an elaborate programme carried the commemoration 
over until the early part of 1914. The exercises, which included, among other events, a dinner 
and a public meeting at the Academy of Music, comprised speeches and addresses by Hon. John 
K. Tener, governor of Pennsylvania; Alexander J. Hemphill and the Plon. Dimner Beeber. The 
Central High School of Philadelphia was established by the board of school directors for the 
First District of Pennsylvania under the school law of 1836. The first building was erected in 
1837-1838 on a site in Juniper Street now occupied by a famous commercial establishment. 
Enoch C. Wines was designated acting president, and the new institution began with a faculty of 
four members. An act of legislature of September 11, 1849. reorganized the school as a college, 
with power to confer degrees. In 1854 the school was removed to Broad and Green Streets, where 
its building became an educational landmark in Philadelphia. The splendid new building diago- 
nally across Broad Street from the old site was first occupied in September, 1900. the Annex in 
1902 and the whole group of buildings were formally dedicated November 22, 24, 25, 26, 1902. 
President Roosevelt took part in the exercises on the first day. 

The 225th anniversary of the Friends' Select School occurred May 22. 1914. The school was 
the result of a resolution adopted by the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting in 1689. 

Among the prominent Philadelphians who died in 1914 were Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell, dis- 
tinguished both as a physician and as an author, and John Edgar Reyburn. mayor of Philadel- 
phia. 1907-1911, both on January 4; General Louis Wagner on January 15; Charles Ed- 
mund Dana, professor of art in the University of Pennsylvania, on February 1; Joseph Fels, 
manufacturer, February 22; George Frederick Bier, president of the Reading Railway Company 
and other railroads, on April 26; Judge James Buchanan Holland, of the United States District 
Court. Philadelphia, on April 24; Rev. Dr. William C. Richardson, rector of St. James Protestant 
Episcopal Church, August 23, and two former ci;:y treasurers of Philadelphia, W^illiam Redwood 
Wright, on December 2, and William B. Irvine, on December 6. 

The Belgian relief ships sailing from Philadelphia in 1914 were: S. S. Thelma, November 12; 
U. S. collier Jason, November 14; S. S. Orn, November 25; S. S. Ferrona. December 23. 1915: 
S. S. Industry, January 1 ; S. S. South Point, February 11 ; S. S. Kentigern, April 15. The S. S. 
South Point carried the cargo of the Miller's Belgian relief. She arrived at Rotterdam March 1. 
discharged her cargo and sailed from England for Philadelphia on March 20. Her name was 
changed to Eston. She was sunk by a German submarine March 28. 

Philadelphia city councils approved the proposed Liberty Bell trip to San Francisco on April 
15, 1915, and on May 19 its custody w-as confided to a joint committee of councils. The Liberty 
Bell left Philadelphia on July 5, traveling on a specially arranged open car that formed part of 
a special train. A long schedule of stops, including all the principal places en route, as well as 
many of lesser fame, was prepared in advance, and many others not specified were made as the 



312 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



journey progressed. The train had hardly left Philadelphia than the prime object of the trip — 
the arousing of patriotic interest — was demonstrated. This enthusiasm was so great, this interest 
so intense, that if the whole 8000 miles of the westward journey was not continuously lined with 
a cheering multitude, it may well have seemed to those aboard the special that every living soul 
within any possible reach of the railroad must hive been on hand to view the sacred relic. Here 
was an enthusiasm that lasted without intermission throughout the twelve days consumed in 
reaching San Francisco. This was the great fact of the enterprise, and, indeed, the only thing to 
be noted, save its safe arrival at its destination on July 17 at 12'.10 A. M. And at San Francisco 
the Bell remained, with a home guard of four policemen from Philadelphia, until it started out 
on its return trip on November 11, 1915. 




Academy of the Fine Art. 



The return trip was marked with the same enthusiasm that had characterized the western 
trip. On the western journey it had followed w' at is known as the "northern route," visiting 
many places in the State of Washington. For the return trip the "southern route" was chosen, 
the greatest possible amount of territory being covered in the whole trip. An official escort went 
out from Philadelphia to bring the Bell back. A preliminary stop of three days, November 12, 
13. 14, was made at the Panama-California International Exposition at San Diego, and then at 
midnight on November 14 the return journey actually began. Once more there were stops at 
places large and small, and again the enthusiasm that those who had continuously traveled with 
the Bell knew to expect. It was not, however, always possible to maintain the running schedule 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 31; 



of the train, and at many places there was much disai)i)ointment because it was late or its 
stopping time cut off. The railroads had fixed forty miles an hour as the limit for the running 
time; it was not possible, therefore, to make up time losses by increased speed, and time could 
only be gained by cutting down the longer stops. Yet in many places people stayed up until mid- 
night to catch a glimpse of the Bell, while at not a few places it was necessary to get out at 3 or 
4 in the morning to see it. The Bell reached Philadelphia on the afternoon of Thanksgiving day 
and was at once replaced in Independence Hall. 

Long-distance telephone connection between Philadelphia and San Francisco was completed 
on February 11, 1915, and the tapping of the old Liberty Bell was heard across the continent. 
The Pennsylvania Building at the Panama-Pacific Exposition at San Francisco was dedicated 
with an oration by Hon. John K. Tener, ex-governor. 

The one hundredth anniversary of the Sunday school of the First Presbyterian Church was 
celebrated on April 28, 1915. This is probably the oldest continuous Sunday school organization 
in this country; and the First Baptist Church Sunday school, organized also in 1815. held its 
centennial anniversary on October 3, 1915. 

A notable event was a visit made to Philadelphia on May 10, 1915, by President Wilson, 
who, on that day, made his memorable address to newly naturalized citizens. 

The fiftieth anniversary of the close of the Civil War was commemorated at Independence 
Hall June 14 by the raising of the Louisiana State flag, the gift of the Louisiana Historical Society, 
which was also sent as a personal tribute to Governor Brumbaugh for his work twenty years ago 
in reorganizing the school system of Louisiana. 

The fiftieth anniversary of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States 
occurred April 14-16, 1915. The order includes in its membership ofiicers and honorably dis- 
charged ofScers of the army, navy and marine carps of the United States who aided in maintain- 
ing the honor, integrity and supremacy of the national Government at a critical period of its 
histor}^ It originated with the Commandery of the State of Pennsylvania, instituted April 15, 
186j. There are now twenty-one commanderies in as many States. The commandery-in-chief, 
with headquarters in Philadelphia, was instituted October 21, 1885. 

An interesting municipal feature of the year 1915 was the experiment of offering city 
bonds for sale over the counter in January. The result was a great success, for the issue was 
oversubscribed in less than seven hours. Another event was the establishing by ordinance, on 
April 3, of a curfew for children under 15 years of age after 11 o'clock. 

The 215th anniversary of Gloria Dei (Old Swede's) Church was celebrated June 6, 1915. 
This ancient church building, which is still in use and is one of the most valuable antiquities 
extant in Philadelphia, was dedicated on the first Sunday after Trinity in 1700. 

The events of the war abroad were of the most absorbing interest in Philadelphia. As to the 
local eft'ects, the unemployment which had marked the beginning of the year, caused largely by 
the uncertainties brought about by the European conflict, practically disappeared. Trade with the 
central powers was virtually wiped out, but the requirements of the entente nations gave rise 
to an increased foreign demand not only for the usual manufacturers of Philadelphia, but also 
for munitions and supplies for both the military forces and civil populations of those countries. 

Many Italian reservists went to join the Italian forces after Italy declared war on Austria- 
Hungary on May 23, 1915. A Socialist element among the Italians called a meeting to take meas- 
ures to prevent the reservists from returning to fight, but this incensed the loyal Italians to such 
a degree that they formed a mob which broke up the meeting on July 25, 1915. 

On June 15. 1915, Mayor Blankenburg signed two ordinances authorizing the department 
of wharves, docks and ferries to acquire the necessary property at the foot of McKean Street for 
the first of the ten municipal Moyamensing piers to be erected in the southern part of the city. 



314 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

This pier was to be the largest yet built by the city, its cost being estimated at about $1,500,000. 
The entire group of ten piers will be superior to any municipal-owned piers in the United States, 
and the car storage yards and other facilities necessarily appurtenant to the piers will cost 
almost $25,000,000. 

The parties which had united for independent endeavor in the mayoralty election which car- 
ried Rudolph Blankenburg into the office of mayor in 1911 separated in the election of 1915. At 
the primaries held on September 21, Thomas B. Smith gained the Republican nomination for 
mayor; G. D. Porter received the nomination of the Washington party; G. B. Bromley that of 
the Democratic party and J. E. Gorman the Keystone indorsement. Mr. Smith had the united 
support of the Penrose-McNichol-Vare organization and won the election on November 2, 1915, 
carrying the entire Republican organization tickat into office with him. 

Figures compiled by Arthur F. Renner, statistician of the board of commissioners of naviga- 
tion for the River Delaware and its navigable tributaries, and made public January 9, 1916, in- 
dicated that during 1915 exports from the port of Philadelphia were valued at approximately 
$135,000,000, the largest total, up to that time, in the history of the port, and exceeding by 
$69,000,000 the total exports of 1914. Only once before, in 1907, were exports in excess of $100,- 
000,000, reaching $106,570,527 in that year. Imports fell off in value during 1915 approximately 
$18,000,000, having totaled, with December estimated, only $69,000,000, the lowest since 1908, 
when the value was $57,407,933. 

The finance committee of councils, on April 6. 1916, presented a plan for raising funds for 
general improvements, and the bonds issued under this plan were oversubscribed on June 30 
following. 

Labor troubles of 1916 were for the most part strikes for higher wages. The cost of living 
in Philadelphia, as elsewhere throughout the country, mounted progressively during the years of 
the world war. The demand for labor grew, and labor's demands were, for the greater part, con- 
ceded. The members of the International Association of Machinists went on strike July 1. On 
August 4 the members of the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railways served 
an ultimatum on the street-car line officials, and the company refused their demands the follow- 
ing day, a strike resulting August 6. Both of these strikes threatened serious disturbance, but 
they were, after a short period, compromised and settled. 

Howard B. French, president of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, announced, August 
23, 1916, that plans were being made by the chamber for the largest international exposition of 
its kind ever held in this or any other country in connection with the sesqui-centennial celebra- 
tion in the year 1926 of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The idea, said Mr. 
French, was to arrange a celebration that in magnitude, interest and importance would over- 
shadow completely all previous international expositions. It was said that legislation looking to 
State support would be introduced at Harrisburg, and that in due time the subject would be 
brought to the attention of the president of the United States and Congress for co-operation. 

Mayor Smith, late in 1916, appointed, by authority of councils, a commission on districting 
and zoning the city. It consisted of the directors of the departments of public works, public 
safety and health, the president of the Fairmount Park commission, the chief of the bureau of 
surveys, a representative of the bureau of the comprehensive plans committee and of the follow- 
ing organizations : Real Estate Board, Operative Builders' Association, the Philadelphia Chapter 
of the American Institute of Architects, the Philadelphia Housing Association and the Philadel- 
phia Chamber of Commerce. 

During 1916, according to a resume of activities furnished by George S. Webster, director 
of wharves, docks and ferries, Philadelphia added to its landing facilities a number of large, 
modern piers. Three of these are of the two-deck type, and all are equipped with electrically 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 315 

operated mechanical appliances for quickly handlini^- cargoes. J hey all have railroad tracks 
which connect directly with the Belt Line System. AjJi^ropriations of $13,300,000 had heen made 
for the purchase of |)roperty and the erection of ])iers and bulkheads, and a commodious pier at 
the foot of McKean Street was then under construction, it being 900 feet long by 250 feet wide. 
Construction had also been begun on an up-to-date concrete-and-steel pier on the Delaware 
l\i\-er at the foot of Cherry Street. Several new (xx^an traf^c piers, averaging in length from 
900 to 1200 feet, and about 300 feet in width, were planned to be constructed in the Moya- 
mensing group on the Delaware River, sotith from Snyder Avenue. Other ])iers were being de- 
signed for Penn Treaty Park, .Mlegheny Avenu'. 1 bridge Street and Comly Street similar in 
design to the most modern piers at Catharine an 1 Christian .Streets, 550 feet long and IcSO feet 
wide, of the two-deck type. 

The one hundredth anniversary of the Phi adelphia Saving h\md Society took place Decem- 
ber 2, 1916. This venerable institution owes its origin to Condy Raguet, a native of Philadelphia 
of French descent. Richard Peters, Jr., Clement C. Biddle and Thomas Hale were associated 
with him as founders. It opened its doors for business December 2, 1816. Andrew Bayard was 
the first president. It was incorporated by act of legislature approved February 25, 1819. The 
charter was subsequently amended at various da-cs. Occupying various sites and offices, the 
Society laid the foundation of its present building at Seventh and Walnut Streets in 1868. The 
original structure has been copiously added to since that date. 

The 135th anniversary of the Bank of North America occurred December 31, 1916. The 
charter of this bank was granted by the Continental Congress December 31, 1781. It com- 
menced business January 7. 1782, and has been doing business continuously and in the same 
spot ever since. It is the oldest bank in the United States, and its history, up to the time of the 
Civil War. w^as practically the financial history of the country. The original charter of the bank 
having been derived from the national Government, it was, from the beginning, a national bank. 
After the adoption of the national bank act it took out a new charter, dated November 23, 1864. 

A great meeting to protest against German atrocities in Belgium was held at the Academy 
of Music January 7, 1917, and was addressed by Hon. James M. Beck. 

Philadelphia, ever foremost of American cities in patriotic impulse and endeavor, had been 
deeply moved by the tragedies and devastations of the war which Germany's military autocracv 
had forced upon an unprepared world. Like all the other American cities, it had its group of 
alien enemies and enemy sympathizers. But ther? is no American city where there is a larger pro- 
portion of 100 per cent Americans than in this old city. They had burned with indignation at 
the Lusitania atrocity and the fiendish Cavell murder. Philadelphians had helped liberally in all 
the relief measures. It had taken a strong and sturdy part in the advocacy of preparedness. 

When the German submarines attacked our ships and finally declared unrestricted and ruth- 
less w^arfare on our commerce, the rai)idly culminating break with the war-iuad central powers 
found Philadelphia ready to respond. When, on February 3, 1917, this country severed its diplo- 
matic relations with Germany and dismissed the sinister Von Bernstorff, the crews of the 
German and Austrian refugee vessels in American ports made attempts to cripple their vessels 
and prevent them from falling into the hands of the United States in case of war. 
Upon instructions from Washington, the collector of the port of Philadelphia ordered the ofificers 
and crews of the Geriuan liners Prinz Oscar and Rhaetia and of the Austrian merchantman 
Franconia to be confined to their vessels. The guard about the ship was materially increased 
after the order became effective. 

When, following the request made to it on April 2 by President Wilson, the Congress on 
April 6 declared war upon Germany, the Liberty Bell w^as rung in Independence Ilall to notify 
citizens of the fact. Immediatelv all kinds of organizations sprang into being to aid in the prepa- 



316 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



rations for the great conflict. Voluntary enlistments to fill the regular army, national guard, 
marine and naval units were made in Philadelphia with a speed and thoroughness not matched 
in any other city. Its quota was soon full and boldly exceeded. So through the preparations and 
campaigns that followed — all the Liberty Loan§, Red Cross, Y. M. C. A., Knights of Columbus, 
Salvation Army, Hebrew societies and every kind of a properly accredited proposition to aid 
the war — Philadelphia did her patriotic best. Overseas the home contingents in our armies added 
luster to the name of the Quaker City. In the casualty lists, too, the contributions of Philadel- 
phians to the cause of liberty and humanity vva^ terribly oversubscribed. The city gave of its 
bravest and best to the great cause. 

John Graves Johnson, the famous corporation lawyer of Philadelphia, and regarded by many 
of the profession as the ablest member of the l:ar in this country, died at his home April 14, 
1917. His famous art collection, valued by him at more than $5,000,000, was given by his will 




Union League 



to the city of Philadelphia. By the terms of the will, his residence in the heart of the city and 600 
paintings it contained were to be the property of Philadelphia for use as a public museum to be 
maintained by the city, provided it accepted the bequest within six months. If it failed to do so 
the paintings were to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Mayor Smith, on 
Itehalf of the city, announced that the terms of Mr. Johnson's gift would be accepted. The John- 
son collection reflects the best efforts of Troyon, Corregio, Millet, Rembrandt. Daubigny, Vollon, 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 31" 



Dupre, Manet, Sargenl, Whistler, Monet, Degas, Courbet, I-JotticcUi, (lainsborough. Turner and 
scores of others equally prominent in the old and ncwt-r schools. The gem of the collection is 
"The Holy Family," by Corregio. 

Idle French mission, headed Ijy Marshal jolTre and M. A'iviani, and including a nuni])er of 
other eminent Frenchmen, visited Philadel])hia on May 9. 1917. Arriving at Inroad Street Station 
at 9 A. M., their first visit was to Independence Hall. There they were formally received by the 
mayor, the exercises concluding with a l)enedicti()n pronounced by the Rt. Rev. Ihomas i. Gar- 
land. Protestant Episcopal coadjutor bishop of Philadelphia. An inspection of the Liberty Bell 
followed, which was kissed by the impulsive Frenchmen. Then a short visit to Congress Hall 
followed, where Marshal Joffrc was presented with a baton made from a piece of a rafter f)f Inde- 
pendence Hall. The Betsy Ross house was visited, and M. \'iviani placed a wreath on the grave 
of Franklin. A hasty trip was made to Girard College, and at the William Penn house in P^air- 
mount Park a great body of school children was gathered, and here a sword, provided by public 
subscription, was presented to Marshal Joffre. At the University of Pennsylvania the honorary 
degree of doctor of laws was conferred on Marshal Jofifre and M. Viviani. A wreath was ])laced 
on the statue of Joan of Arc in Fairmount Park, and a municipal luncheon at the Bellevue-St rat- 
ford was numerously attended. After an exceedingly crowded morning, the mission left for Xew 
York at 2.30 P. M. 

The Liberty Bell was tapped by Mayor Thomas B. Smith June 14, 1917, as an appeal to the 
patriotism of America to respond to the first call of the Liberty Loan. 

The 235th anniversary of the county of Philadelphia occurred in 1917. It was one of the 
three counties of 1682 named by William Penn. The area of the county is 133 square miles and 
its population in 1910 was 1,549,008. 

The 140th anniversary of the adoption of the American national flag, designed by Betsy 
Ross, by a resolution of the Continental Congress sitting in Independence Hall June 14, 1777, 
occurred in 1917. 

The royal Italian commission visited Philadelphia June 20-21. 1917. The features of their 
visit included an address by Judge Norris S. Barratt ; a visit to the Columbus monument in 
Fairmount Park and a municipal dinner on June 20. 

The Belgian mission visited Philadelphia August 20. The exercises included a luncheon Ijy 
the Chamber of Commerce, visits to various points of interest, including Independence Hall and 
the Navy Yard, and a dinner at the Manufacturers' Qub, where addresses were made by Hon. 
John Wanamaker and Lieutenant Colonel John Gribbel. 

The Lafayette celebration at Independence Hall, in commemoration of the 160th anniver- 
sary of the Marquis de Lafayette, occurred September 7, 1917. An address was made by Dr. J. 
J. Jusserand, ambassador of the French republic. In connection with the exercises, a thirteen- 
star American flag, under which Lafayette served in America, was raised on Independence Hall. 
A duplicate flag was raised on the Hotel de Ville in Paris at the same time. 

The imperial Japanese commission visited Philadelphia September 15. 1917. The Liberty 
Loan parade, October 25. 1917, was postponed from October 24, on account of a storm. The 
Liberty Bell was removed from Independence Hall and carried in the procession. 

The one hundredth anniversary of the American Sunday School Union occurred May 13. 
1917. This association had its origin in a meeting of ten or more Sunday school unions or 
societies held in Philadelphia on May 13, 1817, to consider the formation of a general Sunday 
school union. This larger body was formed under the name of "The Sunday and Adult School 
Union." Philadelphia was chosen as the seat of headquarters, and the organization was incor- 
porated by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 1819. The name was changed to the American 
Sunday School Union at the anniversar>^ meeting of May 25, 1824. It was newly incorporated 



318 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



under its present name by the legislature of Pennsylvania in 1845. A commemoration of the cen- 
tennial was abandoned because of the war with Germany. 

At the primary election in Philadelphia on September 19, 1917, Policeman George Eppley 
was murdered by J. Mascia as the result of a political feud, when J. A. Carey, candidate for 
select councilman in the Fifth Ward, was attacked by the adherents of I. Deutsch. Policeman 
Eppley was endeavoring to protect Carey. "Gunmen" from New York had been imported to 
influence the election in favor of Deutsch, who was of the Vare faction, while Carey was an 
adherent of the Penrose faction of the local organization. Mayor Thomas B. Smith, Councilman 
Deutsch and Police Lieutenant Bennett, with various other policemen and several private detect- 
ives, were indicted after an investigation, the charges ranging from conspiracy to murder. Jacob 
Mascia, who killed Eppley, was convicted of murder in the second degree. In consequence of the 
disclosures, public indignation rose high, the Town Meeting party was hastily organized and 
placed a ticket in the field. But at the November election that ticket was defeated and the coun- 
cilmanic seats were divided between the adherents of Penrose and Vare. John (alias "Lefty") 
Costello was also convicted of murder in the second degree on February 2, 1918, and on August 
25 I. Deutsch, Lieutenant Bennett and six policemen were convicted of various charges in the 
same case. 

In January, 1919, Mayor Smith was indicted for violation of the Shern law, by trying to 
prevent a free and fair election, and also with misdemeanor in office. After a trial lasting nine 
days he was acquitted. 

In connection with the mobilization of troops and sailors and the large influx of men into 
munition and other industries, there w^as a great increase of vice until it became unendurable. 
The result was an investigation by the navy department and a report by Secretary Daniels. W. 
H. Wilson, director of public safety, called upon police officials to close up all disreputable places 
within forty-eight hours on penalty of dismissal. Finally, an arrangement for co-operation 
between military and police cleaned up the conditions and the objects of the crusade were 
achieved in a good, safe and clean city. 

The conditions of public morals being greatly improved by the clean-up of the city by the 
authorities, the decent people of the city, who are an overwhelming majority, continued to work 
and help in the work of winning the war and helping to place the name and fame of this good 
old city where liberty had its rebirth on a higher plane than ever — good, patriotic, prosperous and 
American to the core. It is prepared and equipped for adventures of peace that shall add greatly 
to its material welfare and an esteem worthv of its birth, conditions and achievements. 




CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE 



INDUSTRIAL PHILADELPHIA AND HER GREAT 
DEVELOPMENT AFTER THE UNITED STATES 
DECLARED WAR ON GERMANY 

When, on the Cth of April. 1917. the Congress of the United States declared war uj)on the 
imperial (ierman Government. Philadelphia, true to her traditions, came to the front with a com- 
bination of organized brains, industries and money that developed into a mighty factor in the 
business of winning the great struggle for democracy. 

Equipped with assets of a nature such as few cities in the world can boast — and these assets 
developed to a high state of efficiency and perfection — Philadelphia was able immediately to offer 
for the service of the Government a collection of manufacturing plants turning out everything 
from a lead pencil to a locomotive or a completely furnished ship; an army of several hundred 
thousand skilled workmen and an auxiliary corps of trained specialists to direct the enormous 
energy of the city's vast resources. 

There was scarcely a movement in the prosecution of the war by the United States and her 
allies wherein the Quaker City was not in some manner represented. From an industrial stand- 
point it furnished ships to carry our soldiers abroad, and upon their arrival those soldiers were 
equipped with Philadelphia-made shoes, ammuntion. blankets, clothing, motor cars, aeroplanes, 
rifles, revolvers and cannon, machine guns, food, tobacco and candies. Even Philadeli^hia-grown 
seeds were planted abroad to raise produce for the armies. 

One can form some idea of the great storehouse of sup]:)lies from which Philadelphia con- 
tributed to the cause of freedom, when it is known that she had more mills and factories, 
employing 500 persons and over, rhan any other city in the world. Among heY various indus- 
tries it is interesting to note that one shipyard employed 24,000 persons, another 10,000. a third 
5000 and a fourth 3500. One steel plant employed 5000, a locomotive factory 15,000 and a hat 
factory had 4000 skilled workers. Each of these, when the United States entered the war, was 
able, if necessary, to turn over its entire equipment to the cause of America and her allies. And 
most of them did it. 

In addition, there were in Philadelphia 736 mills that weave, spin or knit. There were 100 
establishments where goods were dyed and finished, 131 wool dealers and 80 firms dealing in 
chemicals and dyestufifs. The majority of these, together with 300 makers of clothing, were busv 
turning out supplies for the Government and making the city which sheltered their industry the 
metropolitan center of all war-producing municipalities. 

And not alone in industrial achievements did the city contribute to the welfare of the nation's 
struggles. From the standpoint of patriotism and civic activities she set an example for accom- 
plishment not excelled by any other city in the country. Even before this country was engaged 
in the great war Philadelphia's vast charities were already at work through the various relief com- 
mittees of the Emergency Aid Corps, the Y. M. C. A., Knights of Columbus, Young Men's 
Hebrew Association, Red Cross, various hospital units and other war working associations. 
Each of these, when the United States entered the conflict, already had an equipped and efficient 
group of workers. 

All this civilian machinery, in many instances largely composed of women, redoubled its 
etforts after April 6. 1917. Not only that, but every Philadelphian who in any way was able to 
assist the Government did so frequently at great sacrifice. When the call came for the con- 
servation of foods, Philadelphia, the "City of Homes," at once became Philadelphia, the "City 
of War Gardens." In a hundred thousand vards green lawns were upturned for the puri)ose of 



320 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



developing necessary fruits of the soil. The crops must go for the army ; Philadelphia would raise 
its veo-etables for domestic consumption. Thousands of school children aided in this work. 
Boy Scouts organized an agricultural corps and began the raising of produce. The lessons of 
thrift sank home, and when the city sent 50,000 of her sons in answer to a call to the colors, 
younger brothers and sisters took up the burden of domestic conservation and the back-yard 
gardens continued to flourish and the soil to be tilled by younger but not less enthusiastic hands. 
But greater examples of patriotism and self-sacritice were yet to come. This was evidenced 
in the three Liberty Loan campaigns. Each time Government bonds were offered to the people 
of the United States Philadelphia went "over the top," and subscriptions far surpassed the city's 
allotted responsibility of purchase. In the work of selling the securities the city's business men 
and civic and religious organizations co-operated as a unit. Every tenth man, woman and child 
was a bond "salesman." Boy and Girl Scouts disposed of several million dollars' worth of Lib- 
erty Bonds in well-organized selling campaigns. Frequently the purchases were made at enor- 
mous sacrifice by patriotic citizens, just as the business of disposing of them entailed a sacrifice 
of valuable time by business men who did that work. But the war was to be won, and no sacri- 
fice was too great to help America in upholding its traditions of liberty. This was the spirit in 
which Philadelphians worked. The same spirit of patriotism and directing energy plus efficient 
co-operation obtained like results in the various drives for funds made by the Red Cross, the Y. 
M. C. A., Knights of Columbus and the War Chest. 

With all the city's various agencies of aid to the Government in the prosecution of its suc- 
cessful campaign against the enemy there is little doubt that the greatest of these was its ship- 
building. In discussing this phase of industrial activity, the city's shipbuilding must be taken 
to include what is embraced in the metropolitan district of her port, viz., from Wilmington, Del., 
twenty-eight miles below Philadelphia proper, to Bristol, Pa., eighteen miles to the north. 

When the nation became involved in the war, and the winning of the conflict resolved itself 
largely into a matter of ocean transportation, the Delaware River alnw:)st immediately became 
transposed into a seething sea of activity. The older yards already filled to capacity with orders 
placed by American and foreign owners and by the United States Government, it became neces- 
sary for Philadelphia to undertake the biggest job ever faced by any people— not only the work 
of building hundreds of ships, but also constructing the yards in which to build them. She not 
only built the yards, but has trained nearly a hundred thousand shipbuilders, and at the time this 
history goes to press is launching the craft that will be used to transport men and materials to 
the scene of the conflict. It took Germany forty years and more to build her military machme, 
but in less than ten months Philadelphia aided this nation by constructing a shipbuilding 
machine which brought to naught the carefully laid plans of the imperial German Government. 

The Delaware River was the heart of the whole shipping industry of the country. So 
vital to making the "World Safe for Democracy" was that work that a lieutenant of the French 
army, speaking of Philadelphia's shipyards, said: "This is one of the two most important 
places in the world today — the other is the battle line in France." 

One of the noteworthy things in Philadelphia's shipbuilding program was the efficiency, 
faithfulness and patriotism of the thousands engaged in constructnig the carriers. Every rivet 
that was driven seemed to radiate a feeling that building the ships was more than a game. The 
men in the shipyards, as well as the directors of the Emergency Fleet Corporation, knew that 
the quick completion of every boat meant a new weapon of war that made a bridge of ships 
to General Pershing ; more of American soldier boys in France ; a ceaseless stream of munitions 
and supplies to the allied armies; terror to Potsdam; and quick defeat of the "Might makes 
Right" theory of the Prussians. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 321 

In every part of the country was felt a thrill of pride for iMiiladeljjhia when Charles M. 
Schwab, after becoming Director General of the Emergency Fleet Corporation, moved his office 
with more than 2CXX) employees from \\'ashingt()n, the seat of the National Government, to 
Philadelphia, the "City of Ships." 

The two largest shipyards eml)raced by the port were begun in September, 1917. These 
were the Merchant's Ship])uilding Corporation, at Bristol, and the plant of the American Inter- 
national Shipbuilding Corporation, at Hog Island. Of the two the Hog Island plant was the 
larger and work on it was begtin September 15. When the organization directing the work of 
that imjiortant enterprise took charge of Hog Island the ])lace was a swamp. In an incredibly 
short time the swamp was filled in. the moscjuitoes eliminated, and on the site stands the great- 
est shipyard the world has ever seen. It has fifty ways. 

Thirty thousand men were employed on these ways, which extend down the river for more 
than a mile. Beyond this there is another mile of docks where the vessels, after launching, 
receive their machinery and finishing touches. The place is as large as ten ordinary shipyards. 
Seventy-five miles of industrial railroad is required to transport materials from one part of the 
plant to another. Back of the ways and docks, a model city has been built to house the vast 
number of workmen employed in the place. 

The first launching took place on August 5. 1918, when the 7500-ton Quistconk gracefully 
slid off the ways and kissed the rippled waters of the Delaware. She was christened by Mrs. 
Woodrow Wilson, wife of the President of the United States, and at her launching were pres- 
ent the President, several members of the Cabinet, foreign diplomats, senators, congressmen, 
army and navy executives. Director General Schwab, and more than 50.000 Philadelphians, who 
braved the memorable heat of the day and journeyed to Hog Island to witness its initial launch- 
ing. The hearty whack with which Mrs. Wilson cracked the bottle of wine over the boat's prow 
will never be forgotten, and as the foaming champagne splashed over the wife of the Chief 
Executive, the President laughed heartily. "I christen thee Quistconk." said Mrs. Wilson, and 
in response the giant craft slid smoothly down the tallowed ways and glided gently into the 
river, while thousands of hats were thrown into the air as a great cheer went up from the assem- 
bled multitude. Immediately after the event, a,nd before the crowd had dispersed, workmen 
scrambled into the ways and laid the keel of another vessel. 

The launching of the Quistconk preceded by several days the launching of the Watonwan 
from the ways of the Merchant Shipbuilding Company, at Bristol. This was due to an acci- 
dent, as it was originally intended by the Emergency Fleet Corporation to start the nautical 
career of the Watonwan on August 3. A large crowd was on hand to celebrate the event, but 
was doomed to disappointment, for the 8800-ton steel carrier stuck on the ways. At 1.30 
o'clock (high tide) on the day appointed Mrs. W. Averill Harriman, wife of the chairman of 
the company, stood ready with the bottle of wine to christen the boat. The keypiece was sawed 
but the ship failed to move. Officials of the company, including Director General Schwab, 
went down in the cradle of the ship to investigate. Two tugs assisted by two sixty-ton jacks 
and 800 men straining every effort, failed to move the Watonwan. At 3 o'clock the launching 
was postponed. At the time there was talk of hostile influences, but it is believed the jacks 
refused to work. The launching finally was held on August 15, 1918, when the Watonwan 
slid into the river under her own steam in the })resence of only a few persons beside employees 
of the shipyard. 

Thus was accomplished the first launching at the Bristol plant, which had a contract from 
the Government for the construction of forty vessels within eighteen months. The shipways 
and shops at Bristol were begun about the same time as those at Hog Island. At each of these 
two plants what are known as fabricated ships were put together. This means that each of 



322 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

the yards was a high assembhng plant of a colossal ship factory which was operating in a thou- 
sand American cities; whose employees were the entire body of American skilled labor; and 
whose conveyer belts were the American railways. 

It is interesting to note in connection with the ship plant at Bristol, that on May 25, 1918, 
when Congressman William S. Greene, of Massachusetts, visited the place with the House 
Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, he complained bitterly about the waste of money 
at the plant. "An ideal shipbuilding plant on a mud creek," was his characterization of the 
Delaware River. The extravagance of the thing hurt him, and he said there was not enough 
water in the Delaware at Bristol to float a "good sized schooner, much less boats they're work- 
ing up to." "Some one has put a horse over on the Government." he said, and added the 
information that much better opportunities offered themselves around Fall River, Mass. Con- 
gressman Greene is from that section of the Bay State. 

On August 4, the day following the unsuccessful launching of the Watonwan, a 11,500- 
ton refrigerator cargo carrier slide into the river from the ways of the Sun Shipbuilding Com- 
pany, at Chester. This shipyard was constructed before the United States declared war on Ger- 
many and previously had had several successful launchings. More than 5000 men were 
employed at the plant. 

Within the metropolitan shipbuilding district of Philadeli)hia. the New York Shipbuilding 
Corporation, at Camden, just across the river from the Quaker City, stood unrivaled in the 
record of building and launching a vessel in twenty-seven days from the day of laying its 
keel. The launching took place on May 5, 1918. It has been estimated that if every workman 
in every shipyard could do as well as in that instance. 3600 ships could be turned out by Ameri- 
can yards within a year. 

Philadelphia's own shipyard, that of the William Cramp Ship and Engine Building Com- 
pany, was fully occupied in turning out ships for the Government, as well as other ocean- 
going craft. On September 13, 1917, the Government awarded the Cramp concern a contract 
to furnish fifteen torpedoboat destroyers, in addition to six that previously had been ordered in 
March of the same year. Each boat had a speed of thirty-five knots. At the time the order 
was received Cramps were building two scout cruisers. During the year previous to June 28, 
1918, there were launched from the ways of the company fifteen vessels of various types. 

The last Government boats to be launched at Cramp's, prior to August 19, 1918, were two 
destroyers. These successfully slid down the ways on August 17. They were the Roper and the 
Breckenridge, named for officers of the navy who lost their lives in the service. The Roper 
left the ways at 10.40 in the morning and the other craft four minutes later. On the same day 
the tanker E. L. Doheny, 3d, made its initial plunge from the ways of the New York Ship- 
building Company yard in Camden. 

From the building of ships to transporting men and supplies across the sea, it seems but a 
step to the matter of railroad transportation and with this, locomotives and their service to the 
country in time of war, which brings us to the Baldwin Locomotive works, the greatest plant 
of its kind in the world, located in the heart of Philadelphia. 

Long before America entered the war the Baldwin plant was busy furnishing engines to the 
Russian government. In fact as late as July, 1917. the company was busy filling a $14,000,000 
order for Russia and another of $4,500,000 for England. The former was for 250 locomotives 
and the latter for 100. Delivery of the Russian order was to be made during the early part of 
1918, and the British engines were to be turned over as fast as completed. 

On July 17, 1917, the company received from the United States Government an order for 
the immediate construction of locomotives and freight cars for use in this country and abroad. 
Immediately work on all shell casings and other munitions in the manufacture of which the 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



323 



company also had been engaged, was stopped. The lliree Baldwin plants, one in Philadelphia, one 
at Eddystone. on the southern border of that city, and the Standard Steel Works, with a total 
roster of 25,CXX) employees, began to labor on notliing but Government work. For ten days prior 
to August 31 the hitherto unheard-of number of nine locomotives were turned out every twenty- 
four hours, llic first locomotive after the receipt of the Federal order was completed in twenty 
working days; and by October 1. 1917, 150 finished engines were delivered. After the receipt 
of the initial (Government order, a su])plcnicntary order for 7S4 additional locomotives was 




GiRARD Trust Company's Building 



received. To accomplish the work entailed by it. the Russian and British orders for the time 
being were sidetracked. On October 18 another order for 300 locomotives for the Government 
was accepted by Baldwins. During the week of October 26 seventy-two of the machines were 
started and completed. 

On May 1, 1918, another Government order for 475 locomotives was received and the manu- 
facture of these turned over to the plant at Eddystone. During the year prior to May 1, 1917, 
the Baldwin concern built and shipped for war purposes 2748 locomotives. 

In order to better handle its large shipments to the allies, the Baldwin company built at 
its Eddystone works a great dock. This structure was opened for use on June 26, 1917. Prior 



324 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

to that time all locomotives and ammunition made by the concern were shipped mostly from New 
Yorkj to which place they traveled by rail and were then loaded on ships which carried them 
across the Atlantic. The new dock is located on what originally was marshland, which was re- 
claimed at a great cost. The dock is equipped with the most modern machinery. Electric cranej, 
each capable of carrying a load of fifty tons, are placed at advantageous spots, so that either 
locomotives or shrapnel may be lifted with equal ease. 

At 2 o'clock in the afternoon of June 26, 1917, the first ship was loaded from the new 
wharf. The boat rested in a thirty-foot channel which had been dredged back to the dock for 
the accommodation of vessels. It carried a cargo of coal and locomotives. Four of the engines 
were placed aboard the ship while in ballast. The coal was loaded on top of those and the remain- 
der of the shipment on top of the coal. The locomotives were shipped assembled, with the excep- 
tion of the wheels. In addition to the ammunition manufactured by the Baldwin plant of the 
Eddystone Munitions Corporation, the Remington Arms Company, also situated at a little 
suburb of Philadelphia, was likewise contributing thousands of tons of ordnance to the cause 
of democracy. 

Already working on war orders for the allies when the United States entered the struggle, 
the Remington Arms Company on March 7, 1916, just one month before Uncle Sam girded on his 
sword, was sending out a call for more employees. Philadelphia was scoured for skilled work- 
men in an endeavor to increase the force by 3000 employees and thus bring the number on the 
payroll up to 10,000. Employment offices were opened in various sections of Philadelphia. On 
May 1, 1917, the first war contract for rifles for the new United States army was awarded to 
the Remington Arms Company. Work on this contract was started the following week and 
arrangements made to increase the force of employees to 16,000. In that order enough rifles 
were demanded by the Government to supply an army of 1,000.000 men. The rifles were of 
the Lee-Enfield type. The Remington plant previously had furnished hundreds of thousands of 
rifles to the British and Russian Governments. 

Early in April. 1918. shortly after more war orders had been received by the Remington 
Arms Company, the concern issued a call for women workers. They wanted 1000 in addition to 
those already employed at the plant. Before April 25 more than a fourth of that number had 
been enrolled. The women ranged in age from 21 to 45 years and wdiile at work were at first 
clad in khaki-colored aprons over their ordinary street attire. Later many of them donned 
bloomers. They worked in daily shifts of nine hours, starting at 7.30 o'clock and quitting at 5.30 
in the afternoon. 

By July 18, 1918, 5000 rifles a day were being turned out at the concern, which some time 
previous had been incorporated into a huge combine that included the Midvale Steel Works 
and the Coatesville, Pa., plant of Worth Brothers, known as the Midvale Steel and Ordnance 
Company. 

It is interesting to note the great care in choosing employees that was taken at the great 
factories turning out munitions of war for the Federal Government. No person was enrolled 
among that vast number of workers until after strict inquiry had been made as to his fitness 
for employment and loyalty to the Government. For this purpose a checking method and secret 
service system were inaugurated, and within a short time the Midvale company had a vigilance 
corps, with more than a thousand of the highest type of workmen employed. These men took 
the following oath : 

"I pledge allegiance to the flag and the country for which it stands. By the presi- 
dent's proclamation, I understand that loyal Americans working in munitions plants are 
considered doing their bit to aid the United States in the defeat of the common enemy." 



THE STORY ()/• I'l 1 1 LADIiLPl I lA 



The bi^ Nicetown plant in North Philadelphia of the Midvale Steel and Ordnance Company 
for years had been engae:ed in the manufacture of guns and armor plate for the Government. 
Two months before Congress declared war the United States Government placed with the Mid- 
vale concern an order for twenty guns of large type and eight guns of various types. These were 
in addition to the orders already held by the company. The new pieces of ordnance were directed 
to be finished by June, 1918. 

On May 16, 1918, it became known that the Nicetown plant was to be enlarged for the pur- 
pose of taking care of guns to be made for shipment to France. To the end of arranging details, 
on the day previous members of the Senate committee on military affairs inspected the big Mid- 
vale works. On June 11a petition was filecl in the Federal Court for the condemnation of two 
large tracts at Nicetown. Plans were perfected by the war department for the erection of build- 
ings wherein would be made howitzers and howitzer projectiles for use by the army. 

Petitions of condemnation were filed against the Tabor Manufacturing Company, owner 
of a tract of land at Stokley and Bristol Streets, and Louis M. Struse, owner of a brickyard at 
Fox and Juniata Streets. In addition to those two sites, a large acreage already had been pur- 
chased at the site of the proposed plant. Judge Dickinson, of the Federal Court, allowed the 
petition. 

On July 8, 1918, arrangements were made for the ecjuipment of another arms plant in 
Philadelphia. This was to be known as the Savage Arms Company. The concern already had in 
operation manufactories in other parts of the country. Its Philadelphia undertaking included the 
purchase of the Isaac A. Sheppard Company, formerly manufacturers of stoves, and whose 
works were located at Erie Avenue and Sepviva Street. 

Of all the ordnance-producing institutions in the city, perhaps the interest of Philadel- 
phians centers mostly around the Frankford Arsenal, which for more than one hundred years has 
been turning out supplies for the Government. As a unit of the war department, it had for years 
been a matter of exploitation by politicians, but with the entrance of this nation into the war the 
plant immediately was put on a war basis. 

On March 23, 1917, Secretary of War Newton D. Baker authorized its then commanding 
officer. Colonel George Montgomery, to proceedat once to manufacture or purchase artillery 
ammunition costing approximately $7,300,000. That day Colonel Montgomery, because the plant 
under his immediate supervision was not large enough to turn out the entire order, notified 
private manufacturers to submit bids. At that time there were 3624 men and women employed 
at the Arsenal. The capacity of the plant was about 1500 rounds of artillery ammunition per 
day. The employees were at once put on extra time and that output increased about twenty per 
cent. But even this was then totally inadequate to meet the demands made by the new order 
which called for 140.000 rounds of three-inch shells, 15,000 rounds of 2.95-inch shrapnel; 220,- 
000 rounds of 3-inch shrapnel, 21.000 rounds of 4.7-inch shells and 14.000 rounds of 4.7-inch 
shrapnel. It was the largest order ever placed by the Government with its Frankford unit. 

On April 14. 1917, a heavy fire damaged the lead ship at the Arsenal. Had it not been for 
the bravery of the firemen it is probable the entire main building would have blown up. Two fire 
horses were killed in a race to the fire and several firemen were injured while fighting the flames, 
which were caused by spontaneous combustion. The fire followed by two days an explosion in 
which two workmen lost their lives. Three hundred men and boys were temporarily thrown out 
of work until the damage was repaired. 

Because of the closeness with which the one accident followed its predecessor, strict investi- 
gation was made into various causes which mi^ht have contributed to them. German spies were 
plentiful in those days and destruction at the Frankford Arsenal was only one of the many 
similar conflagrations and explosions that began to manifest themselves throughout the countr}^ 



326 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



On September 8, 1917. another explosion rocked the plant. This time two persons were killed, 
thirty injured and Intildings valued at more than $50,000 completely demolished. The explosion 
followed the upsetting of a tray of detonators — powerful explosive caps placed in big shells — 
which were upset in the dry house or place wherein powder and munitions of various kinds were 
placed to dry. A board of inquiry at once was formed by Colonel Montgomery to investigate 
the cause of the explosion. 

Five days before the accident the Government had announced an appropriation of more 
than $2,000,000 for the purpose of enlarging the arsenal. The money was ordered to be expended 
for an increase in the size of the plant and its equipment and made it possible to carry out many 
plans that had been the cherished hope of the commandmant for several years previous to our 
declaration of w^ar. 

By October 24. 1917, Colonel Montgomery had orders placed with outside firms amounting 
to more than $1,000,000 for war materials. These awards were in line with his policy to have 
finished during the year, under the supervision of the Arsenal personnel, $15,000,000 worth of 
work. 

The German system of espionage again was made manifest at the Government plant at 
Frankford when, on December 4, 1917, William Lebwoski was arrested for spoiling shells. 
According to Special Government Agent Frank Garbarino, the man was a pro-German and had 
said, "Why should I wrap paper around fuses when I get more money for not doing it?" His 
failure to perfect the fuses resulted in thousands of defective shells being shipped to France, 
for use by General Pershing's army. 

But through efficient management and the assistance of Government funds the Frankford 
Arsenal on March 25, 1918, was declared to be the best plant of its kind in the United States. 
Not only was the quality of power said to rank first place in comparative tests, but the entire 
organization, according to a report made to the Chief of Ordnance of the United States, was 
pronounced the most economically arranged in the country. 

The Government now began to use the place as a training school for men in the salvage 
department. Students at the school began to take up optical repair work, following the discov- 
ery that lenses of German manufacture, used by American aviators were, in some instances, 18 
per cent out of vision. This was believed to have caused a number of accidents in aviation train- 
ing camps. The ordnance department on March 25 issued the following statement regarding the 
training school at the Arsenal : 

"The greatly expanded qantities of artillery, motor vehicles and other equipment used in 
the present war have entailed a corresponding large repair service, and this has been established 
by the Ordnance Department to the end that the material of the artillery shall be efficiently and 
economically maintained. 

"For the special training of the maintenance and salvage personnel the Ordnance Depart- 
ment has established a number of special training camps and schools, such as a school for equip- 
ment repairs, at Rock Island Arsenal, machine gun repairs at Springfield Armory, supply work 
at several arsenals, optical work at Frankford Arsenal, more equipment repairs at Peoria, III, 
and field artillery repair at Rock Island Arsenal." 

In addition to the industrial plants already mentioned as turning over their complete 
organizations to the Nation's cause. Philadelphia also had many other resources on which to 
draw when the great call came for loyalty and service. Her lumber depositories are both 
numerous and important. Such immense shipments of lumber through the Philadelphia market 
never had been witnessed until America's entry into the mighty conflict. Because of her facili- 
ties for rapid handling of that commodity, great quantities of timber were redistributed from 
this port for use by the United States and her allied armies. Hundreds of thousands of feet 



THE STORY OF Tl 1 1 LADFJAUHA -,o- 



were employed in building additional homes in wliich to house the great influx of workmen who 
were engaged in war industries in Philadelphia. 

It has been estimated that the Philadelphia manufacturing district produced forty per cent 
of all the essential supplies sent to France to beat the kaiser. Among this vast quantity of stores, 
a Philadelphia sporting goods manufacturer filled three-fifths of the largest order for his product 
ever placed in the world. This wvas the A. J. Reach Company. The order from the Govern- 
ment, and of which he supplied the greater part, called for an expenditure of $250,000 for 12,000 
baseballs, 4000 bats, 2000 mitts, 1000 catcher's masks, 1000 body protectors, 6000 playground 
balls, 2000 indoor baseball bats, 10.000 sets of boxing gloves, 6000 footballs, 3000 football blad- 
ders. 1000 medicine balls, 2000 volley balls, 4000 rawhide laces, 1000 basketballs, 1000 pumps, 
1000 football patching outfits and 4000 official guidebooks on American sports. 

When the call came for the conservation of food and the nation rose to the emergency 
through the individual householder tilling the soil to produce vegetation for his immediate con- 
sumption, Philadelphia manufacturers of agricultural implements supjilied more than their share 
of garden utensils. They likewise furnished thousands of tons of these implements for use by 
the armies. 

Philadelphia for years has been known as "The World's Greatest Workshop." and under 
the stimulus of war demands, which first were felt during the second quarter of 1917, she has 
far exceeded her reputation. This is particularly true in the matter of builders' hardware, ma- 
chinery and machine tools. Producton for Government work and for domestic use under the 
pressure of allied necessities increased more than fifty per cent. Following the declaration of 
war, her 150,000 skilled machinists responded with a patriotic zest that set an example to the 
world, and through their tireless energy the shipments of millions of pieces of machinery and 
tools was made possible and contributed immeasurably to the success of the armies Ijy which they 
were used. 

The keynote of Philadelphia's contribution to the war. from a textile industry stan(li)oint, 
was sounded by President Wilson himself, when on April 29. 1918, a year and twenty-three days 
after the opening of our campaign against Germany, he sent the following telegram to the Tex- 
tile Exhibitors' Association : 

"While the nation is now looking toward our great textile industries to contribute 
their essential service to meet the demands of the army and navy, it is confidently 
expected that the increase of industrial skill attained in so doing will prove of perma- 
nent value in advancing standards which should distinguish all products of the United 
States for the benefit of its people generally. "Woodrow Wilson." 

That telegram represented the exact stand taken by Philadelphia's great textile industry. 
Government orders received first consideration. Millions of yards of khaki were produced 
here. Socks for the army and navy occupied the full time of many of the city's mills. One large 
clothing factory at one time turned out alone a steady production of 4000 army overcoats a 
day. 

In addition to the Government work, Philadelphia manufacturers of clothing realized what 
part the city's industries must play in clothing hundreds of thousands of persons after the 
war, and for this reason continued extensions were being made to many establishments for the 
purpose of aiding Europe and America after the cessation of hostilities. 

Another industry that contributed its bit to (jovernment work coming from Philadelphia 
was the oilcloth production. During the ])eri()d after A]:)ril 6. 1917. the Government was a 
liberal purchaser of oilcloths and linoleums for use as deck coverings on all types of naval 
vessels. 



328 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




mk^Uk 



Manufacturers' Club 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 329 



Because of its high standard, more than seventy-tive per cent of all the leather used by the 
Government in boots, shoes and saddles, as well as other articles made from the same substance 
was supplied by Philadelphia tanners. Seventy-five per cent of the world's supply of goatskins 
arc tanned in J'hiladelphia and its immediate vicinity. 

One of the most important commodities in the prosecution of warfare is chemicals. These 
are used in the manufacture of high explosives, without the aid of which no war can be fought, 
in the fertilization of the soil, without which no army can l)e fed, and fcjr many other purposes. 
So far as America is concerned, Philadelphia is the city wherein the chemical industry had its 
beginning. There are scarcely any of the older manufactories of chemicals on this continent 
which cannot trace their origin to Philadelphia. For this reason I'hiladelphia-made and Philadel- 
phia-inspired chemical products are finding their way daily into nearly every department of 
Government work. 

In the manufacture of oils. Philadelphia petroleum refiners sup])lie(l half the naf)htha 
used by the aviation forces of the allies. They supplied fuel oil for ships speeding across the 
broad bosom of the Atlantic Ocean. The motor trucks that carried ammunition and the "tanks" 
that led the charge of the allied soldiers "over the top" derived their power in a large part from 
gasoline shipped from this city. Guns and shells were tem])ered with oils produced in Philadel- 
phia refineries. 

Typhoid \accine made here almost entirely banished typhoid fever from the ranks of the 
allied armies. Since its employment in the xAmerican army and navy typhoid has amounted to 
virtually nothing. During the war there was a great demand, which Philadelphia filled, for 
tetanus (lockjaw) antitoxin. This demand naturally came from Europe, where the death rate 
from tetanus contracted by wounded soldiers would be appalling. The sending of millions of 
doses to the army hospitals by manufacturers in this city already has considerably reduced the 
death rate from lockjaw. Many an American after the war was sent back to his home and dear 
ones, who, were it not for the antitoxins and serums made in this city, would have found a grave 
in the battle-scarred fields of France. 

More than a year before the United States entered the lists against Germany Philadelphia 
had already begun a comprehensive system of preparedness by training young men for the avia- 
tion corps. Through the far-sightedness of Judge J. Willis ^Martin. Robert E. Glendenning, a 
banker, and several other men of prominence, a training school for this work was opened at 
Essington, on the southern borders of the city. A bill was introduced in Common Councils by 
Joseph P. (lafi^ney. chairman of the finance comnfittee, for a lease of "The Orchard" to "the 
Philadelphia School of Aviation" for a term of ten years at the nonfinal rental of $1 per year. 
Contracts were let for the erection of two hangars, each 150 feet long, 50 feet wide and 40 feet 
wide. Eight hydro])lanes were ordered for use by students, and capable instructors sought to 
train young men. who later, as it proved, were to fight the battles of America high above the 
clouds. 

The school was officially opened on May 6, 1916, and on May 8 the first lessons in flying 
were begun. At that time more applications for instruction were on hand than it was possible to 
care for, which was another example of Philadelphia's ])atriotic potentialities when the great 
call came. 

On May 13, 1916, Rear Admiral Robert E. Peary visited the school in company with the 
mayor and a number of prominent citizens and visiting army ofBcers. Admiral Peary was so 
pleased that he said : 

"If there were more schools of aviation like this one in Philadelphia this country 

would soon be in a position where no fear would be felt for lack of preparedness in the 

air. If it became necessary, aeroplanes and hydroaeroplanes could be built quickly, but 

it takes time to make an aviator." 



330 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

On ^larch 9, 1917, three days more than one month before we declared war, the War 
department announced that it would take over the Philadelphia School of Aviation. The infor- 
mation came in the shape of a telegram from General George O. Squire, chief of the signal and 
aviation section of the army, to Robert E. Glendenning. president of the school. That telegram 
set at rest for all time the then disturbing rumor that the Government had intended to shift the 
school to Detroit. On May 8, 1917, Representative Isadore Stern, of Philadelphia, by unani- 
mous consent, introduced a bill in the State Legislature granting the city the right to transfer the 
land at Essington to the Government. 

On May 10 the Government announced that it would immediately begin active work chang- 
ing the plant of the school and erecting additional buildings in which to house aeroplanes, a 
machine shop and other structures for the maintenance of a large department of instruction in 
aviation. Immediately following the receipt of this intelligence in Philadelphia, equipment 
arrived and was at once hauled to the grounds. Thus were enlargements begun sufficient to 
accommodate the training of seventy-tive students and to house fourteen machines. 

Sergeant William Ocker, who shortly before that time had made a flight to Washington 
carrying with him Congressman Bleakley, of Franklin, Pa., and who at that time was a captain 
in the Ordnance Department, was detailed for active duty in charge of the school. Walter E. 
Johnson, who had been chief instructor, was retained in that capacity. On June 25 the Govern- 
ment announced that after August 25 it expected to graduate fliers from the school. Since that 
time many young men have started and completed their instruction at Essington and have been 
sent to France as full-fledged pilots. Aeroplanes with young men making test flights may be 
seen at almost any time high over Philadelphia and its environs. 

The Frankhn Institute School, now in the ninety-fourth year of its existence, is another 
Philadelphia institution that contributed to the cause of freedom by its instruction in scientific 
l)ursuils. It graduated more than fifteen thousand students and its courses are a synonym 
for thoroughness the world over. After America's entry into the war and the consequent need 
for radio operators, the Institute, in full co-operation with the Government, conducted a school 
for wireless operators from which many graduates were turned out. These operators entered 
at once into Government service on land and sea. Fifty-four of the students completed the course, 
passed the required tests, and were inducted into the service of the army on April 1, 1918. 

It would indeed be sadly amiss if, in conclusion of this chapter on Philadelphia's industrial 
activities during the war, mention were not made of the city's splendid gift of captains of indus- 
try and professional men to the cause of her country's welfare. These men, each at the top rank of 
his chosen vocation, voluntarily relinquished the duties of business and placed themselves wholly, 
and in many instances without payment, or nominally so. at the disposal of the Government. 
They filled positions of high honor and trust, and in most cases directed the use of vast 
resources at the Nation's command. To go into detail and give all the men who comprise 
Philadelphia's "Who's Who in Wartime" would entail a list covering many pages. For that rea- 
son there are here mentioned those who stand at the very top of their respective professions : 

ARMY 

W. W. Atterbury, Brigadier General — Former vice-president of the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road's lines east of Pittsburgh. In France directing the building of railroads for American 
forces. Had charge of all transportation problems and the location of the new port of Ameri- 
can entry. 

W. Brewster Andre, Colonel — Prominent clubman, who served with the American army in 
France. 



THE STORY OF riJILADELPI/IA 331 



Francis V. Lloyd, Major in the Xalional Army — A IMiiladclphia banker, former Prince- 
ton football star, and one of two rinladelphians to win major's commissions at first Officers' 
Training Camp, at Fort Niagara. 

Benjamin Franklin Pepper, Major in the National Army — Philadelphia lawyer, wlio, with 
Major Lloyd, took first high commission at Fort Niagara. 

Lloyd Griscom, Assistant Adjutant to commanding officer at Camp Upton. 

NAVY 

Dr. E. R. Stitt, Rear Admiral — Professor on staff of jeft'erson Medical College. Made rear 
admiral and member of naval medical staff' for his skill in handling tropical diseases. 

Leslie B. Anderson, Commander — Philadelphia High School. Director of destroyer in 
American fleet. Son of Frank B. Anderson, former Philadelphia newspaperman. 

Ward Wortman. Commander — Philadelphia clubman, regular navy man. Advanced in rank 
and given command of destroyer. 

Richard McCall Elliott, Lieutenant Commander — Lost his life when destroyer Manley, under 
his command, was rammed by a British cruiser. 

Charles Armstrong, Lieutenant Commander — Noted yachtsman, head of Corinthian Yacht 
Club of Philadelphia. In command of flotilla of submarine chasers in Fourth Naval District. 

Irwin Leslie Gordon, Ensign — Author and journalist. Assistant City Editor Evening Pub- 
lic Ledger. Gave up his work to enlist in navy, was made Chief Petty Officer. Later elevated 
in rank and received commission as Ensign. 

ORDNANCE SERVICE 

Samuel M. Vauclain, vice president of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, who in addition to 
turning out vast quantities of projectiles and machinery for the Government, also served in Wash- 
ington as chief of the Section on Production and Finished Ordnance Materials on the Council of 
National Defense. 

Charles L. McKeehan, Lieutenant Colonel — Philadelphia lawyer, who served in Washington 
as ordnance expert for the Government. 

John C. Jones, Philadelphia business man and head of Harrison Safety Boiler Company. 
Served as supervisor of ordnance production in Eastern District, embracing eastern Pennsylvania 
and part of New Jersey and Delaware. 

Archibald Blair Hubbard, Major — Steel producer and expert on manufacturing. Served in 
Washington as supervisor on certain phases of munition production. 

Wilson Potter, Major — Business man and big game hunter; also nephew of Fuel Adminis- 
trator. At Camp Meade directing ordnance transportation. 

Gouverneur Cadwalader, Major — Head of Philadelphia concern producing ordnance and 
ship materials. Gave time to Government in munitions production. 

Walter M. Schwartz, Major — Business man who went to Washington to assist in produc- 
tion of ordnance. 

Alfred M. Collins. Major — Polo player and big game hunter. In active service abroad mak- 
ing practical application of his knowledge of ordnance matters. 

MEDICAL 

Dr. Richard H. Harte. Major— Former Director of Department of Health and Charities, 
Philadelphia. In France as head of Base Hospital No. 10, organized by Pennsylvania Hospital. 
Appointed by General Pershing as surgical adviser to American forces. 

Dr. R. G. LeConte, Lieutenant Commander— Philadelphia surgeon. In France as naval con- 
sultant of American forces. Went abroad as head of Methodist Episcopal Naval Flospital unit. 



332 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 

Dr. John (iil)bon. Major — Well-known Philadelphia surgeon. Went abroad with Base Hos- 
pital No. 10. Afterward medical adviser to Pershing expedition. 

Dr. George C. Norris, Captain — Went abroad with Base Hospital No. 10. Later medical con- 
sultant with Pershing expedition. 

Dr. George E. De Schweinitz, Major — Famous Philadelphia eye specialist, professor of 
ophthalmology at University of Pennsylvania and eye specialist to President Wilson. Visited 
France and was ■ later in Washington in Government service relating to practice of his profes- 
sion. 

Dr. Daniel J. McCarthy, nerve specialist. Sent to Germany early in war to study conditions 
in (ierman prison camps. Returned October. 1916, and was sent to Russia with Red Cross 
Mission. Was there five months. 

Dr. Thomas McCrae, Colonel — Professor at Jefl^erson Medical College. Went to England 
to conduct a 200-]:)ed hospital for Canadian forces. 

Dr. De Forrest Willard, Major — Philadelphia physician. Went abroad at head of large 
hospital for wounded men. 

Dr. J. C. Marshall, former State veterinarian and expert. In charge of Episcopal Hospital 
tmit now in France. 

Dr. John PI. Jopson, Major — In France as head of mobile hospital organized by Episcopal 
Hospital, of Philadelphia. 

Dr. J. B. Carnett, Major — University Hospital surgeon and former football star at Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania. Head of Base Hospital No. 20 organized by University Hospital. 

Dr. John Mc( ilinn, Lieutenant Commander — Head of naval unit organized at St. Agnes 
Hospital. In active work at Philadelphia Navy Yard, League Island. 

Dr. W. M. L. Coplin, Major — Member of faculty of Jefferson Medical College. Head of 
Base Hospital Unit No. 38. 

Dr. Charles Bingham Penrose, well-known Philadelphia physician. Member of medical sec- 
tion, Council of National Defense. 

Dr. G. Davis, orthopedic specialist — Directing school for orthopedic instruction for army 
men in Philadelphia. 

Dr. Wayne W. Babcock, Major — Philadelphia surgeon. In charge of camp hospital at Camp 
Plancock. Georgia. 

Dr. E. E. McCiiven, Major — Stationed at Fort Oglethorpe as medical head of post hospital. 

AVIATION 

Robert L. Montgomery. Colonel — Philadelphia l)usincss man. Financial head of Aircraft 
Production Board in Washington. Member of local banking firm of Montgomery & Co. 

W. W. Montgomery, brother of Colonel Mont^gomery. Well-known Philadelphia lawyer. 
Legal adviser to Aircraft Production Board in Washington. 

Robert E. Glendenning. Major — Philadelphia banker, founder of Philadelphia School of 
Aviation. In France as Government representative in charge of aviation and directing that work 
over there. 

L. B. Goodier, Lieutenant Colonel — Regular army flier, badly injured in California several 
years ago. Was head of Aviation Training School at Essington until transferred to 
Lake Charles, La. 

Barclay Warburton, Captain — Former Philadelphia newspaper publisher. He furnished big 
guns to Russia and was later in France aiding in the aviation program. 

Marshall Reid. Lieutenant — Pioneer aviator in Philadelphia. Directed building of aviation 
field for Government at Cape May. In service abroad. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Cliaiies L. Biddle— i'hiladclphian with French Squadrilla. Been throui,di active service and 
brought down many of the enemy airplanes. Cited for gallantry. Son of Charles Biddle, Phila- 
delphia lawyer, and brother of the late Julian Biddle, who lost his life in aviation service over the 
North Sea. 

Hewson Woodward — In French aviation service. Brought down several enemy planes. Son 
of Dr. (ieorge Woodward, of St. Martins. 

FOOD 

Dr. Alonzo Taylor, professor at University of Pennsylvania. Spent nearly two years in 
Germany with American embassy just prior to United States' entrance into the war. Fater, one of 
valued assistants to Herbert Hoover, United States Food Administrator. 

Thomas Roberts, well-known Philadelphian. Served in Washington as one of assistants to 
Food Administrator Hoover. 

William A. Glasgow, lawyer. Called to Washington as legal adviser to Herbert Hoover. 
Howard Heinz, business man. Food Administrator for the State of Pennsylvania. 

Jay Cooke, 3d, grandson of famous financier of Civil War ; himself a banker. Gave up busi- 
ness to become Philadelphia County Food Administrator. 

RAILROAD 

W. W. Atterbur}% Brigadier General — Listed under Army. 

William A. Garrett, Major — Assistant General Manager of Remington Arms Company at 
Eddystone. Went to France as member of Government Railroad Commission to arrange for 
transportation of American forces. 

Francois De St. Phalle, Major — Member of Baldwin Locomotive Company. One of mem- 
bers of Railroad Commission with Major Garrett. 

Cameron Buxton, railroad freight expert, noted golfer and clubman. Taken to Washington 
by Director of Railroads William G. McAdoo^to assist in running roads for military purposes. 

W. Byrd Page, Captain — Former University of Pennsylvania athlete. In Siberia as head 
of engineering and railroad force supplying motive power. 

COAL 

Charles Edward Berwind, coal operator. Served at Washington as member of coal commis- 
sion of Council of National Defense. 

Daniel B. Wentz. Selected by General Pershing as head of fuel and forage division of quar- 
termaster's department of American expeditionary force. Formerly head of coal commission of 
Council of National Defense. 

William Potter, former United States Minister to Italy ; oilcloth magnate. Head of Pennsyl- 
vania Fuel Commission. 

Francis A. Lewis, well-known Philadelphia lawyer, prominent churchman. Fuel Administra- 
tor for Philadelphia County. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

Edward T. Stotesbury, head of banking firm of Drexel & Co., representing Morgan intx^rests 
in Philadelphia. Chairman of Southeastern Chapter of American Red Cross. Also served on 
National Red Cross Commission. Mrs. Stotesbury was head of the Naval Auxiliary of America, 
organized under auspices of Red Cross. 

Professor Lightner M. Witmer, member of faculty of University of Pennsylvania. In Italy 
as member of Red Cross Commission for that country. 

The Rev. Father Sigourney. Clerical member of American Red Cross Commission in Italy. 

Dr. Ralph Pemberton, Philadelphia physician. In Red Cross service at Washington. 

Percy H. Clark, banker. In Washington as director of Red Cross work. 



334 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




'^If "* "*^ "* "§-«"" 

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United Gas Improvkment Company's Building 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 335 



Herbert L. Clark, brother of P. 11. Clark and member of same banking firm. In Washin"-- 
ton as assistant director of Red Cross work. 

Professor N. Hayes, member of faculty of Swarthmore College. Member of Naval Scien- 
tific Board, doing Government experimental work. 

C. C. Zantzinger. architect. Relinquished business to serve as member of War Trade Board 
in Stockholm, Sweden. 

George McFadden, cotton broker. Went to Paris to represent Government in war trade 
matters. 

Edward Robinnette. wealthy Philadelphian. In Stockholm as member of American Legation. 

Thomas Newhall, Lieutenant. Member of Naval Commission sent to England. 

Peter Shields, Philadelphia real estate genius and financier. Sent to France on Government 
mission to confer wnth General Pershing. 

John C. Groome, Lieutenant Colonel. Former head of Pennsylvania State Constabulary, for- 
mer captain of First Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry, business man, prominent clubman. Mem- 
ber of signal corps and head of special division. 

Edgar C. Felton, former president of Pennsylvania Steel Company. Handled labor prob- 
lems for Pennsylvania Committee of Public Safety. 

W. Vernon Phillips, iron and steel executive. Directed work of supplying munition factories 
with iron and steel scrap. 

H. B. Spackman, iron and steel executive. 

Rodney Thayer, iron and steel executive. 

C. A. Barnes, iron and steel executive. 

The three last named gentlemen w^ere engaged for the Government in much the same kind 
of work now being done by Mr. Phillips. 



CHAPTER TWEJSTY-FOUR 

ORGANIZED CO-OPERATION OF PHILADELPHIA'S 

CIVIC POPULATION TO MAKE THE "WORLD 

SAFE FOR DEMOCRACY" 

In discussing the activities of Philadelphia's civic population, which may be taken to include 
her women, her various fraternal, patriotic and religious organizations, to say nothing of the 
Y. M. C. A., the Boy and Girl Scouts and various other similar bodies, it is indeed a difficult 
task to say what she has done. As has been stated, the war work of Philadelphia's civil popula- 
tion really began before America decided to cast her might into the strife, and when Congress 
declared war she already had a well-organized machinery with which to start. 

That machinery, when the call came for subscriptions to the first Liberty Loan, was at once 
thrown into the campaign, with the result that the loan was oversubscribed 65.9 per cent. The 
allotment of the Federal Reserve district of Philadelphia for the first loan was $140,000,000; her 
subscriptions, $232,309,250. In the city of Philadelphia alone an army of 50,000 persons forsook 
business to become bond salesmen. With this mighty sacrifice as an example, the citizens rose to 
the occasion, and it is estimated that there were 300.000 individual subscribers to Government 
securities. 

In the second loan series the quota for the Philadelphia district was fixed at $250,000,000. 
The oversubscription to this was $130,350,250, or 52.1 per cent. Of the total sum. Philadelphia 
alone contributed $222,000,000. That amount almost equaled the total subscriptions for the entire 
district for the first loan. 

For the third Liberty Loan, Philadelphia again was allotted as her quota $250,000,000. As 
before, she went "over the top" with a 144.7 per cent subscription which totaled $361,963,500. 
Of that amount the city exceeded its quota of $136,000,000 by $43,632,350. The entire reserve 
district embraced in the Philadelphia territory had a margin of $111,541,800. One-third of the 
total population of the municipality, or 651,931 persons, subscribed to the loan. The entire district 
added 1.002.567 subscribers. An interesting feature of the third sale of Government securities 
in Philadelphia w^as that more than 55 per cent of the subscriptions were paid in full. This was 
a record compared with the previous loans. 

Philadelphia during the three loan campaigns was a scene of never-to-be-forgotten activity. 
Orators were on every street corner ; thousands of booths were erected at places of vantage ; 
"four-minute men" appeared everywhere to stimulate buying. At the opening of the third loan 
series. Secretary of the Treasury McAdoo came to Philadelphia for the occasion, while his 4- 
year-old granddaughter, Nona Martin, unveiled the great statue of Liberty that stood in front of 
the Loan Committee headquarters at South Penn Square. On that occasion Mr. McAdoo deco- 
rated with medals 171 Boy Scouts who had made records for bond selling during the second loan. 
Heading the parade that marked the opening of the third series was America's most treasured 
relic, the Liberty Bell, which had been removed from its sacred shrine at Independence Hall and 
placed on a flower-bedecked truck for the occasion. As the old Bell passed through the streets 
the people reverently bared their heads. 

During the year following the declaration of war, the city was constantly the scene 
of patriotic activities or the host of visiting delegations of notables from the allied countries. 
Truly it may be said that she was "Philadelphia, the Mecca of Patriotism." On August 20. 1917, 
the Belgian commission sent by King Albert to visit this country arrived in the city. The dis- 
tinguished visitors were headed by Baron Ludovic Moncheur, former minister to this country, 
and Lieutenant General Leclerq, veteran of Liege. They were met at Broad Street Station by a 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 337 

committee of prominent citizens and entertained with true IMiiladelphia hospitality chuMng their 
stay. 

On September 7, the same day that a thirteen-starred American flag was unfurled in 
Paris, a similar emblem, but containing forty-eight stars, was flung to the breeze at Independ- 
ence Square. These observances marked the 106th anniversary of the birth of Marquis de La- 
fayette, who. in the words of (jeneral JolTre. hero of the first battle of the Marne, gave "soul 
and sword" in the service of the sister republic. 

Envoys of Japan came to the city on September 16 and renewed their pledge of friendship 
at the shrine of liberty. Independence Hall. They remained in Philadelphia for twelve hours. 
The mission was headed by Viscount Kikujiro Ishii, former Japanese minister of foreign affairs. 
Perhaps there never was a time in Philadel])hia's history when patriotism was at such a 
fever heat as on September 1, 1917, when 50,000 newly created members of the national army, 
including the members of the old National Guard organizations and those called in the draft, 
jiaraded down Broad Street. 

There were few cheers. That was not a time for ringing applause, but for awed silence 
from countless thousands of relatives who braved the rain-filled skies to pay a tribute to their 
loved ones who soon would be facing the fiendish brutality of the Hun. 

Every organization in Philadelphia turned out to do honor to its stalwart sons. Delegations 
also were in the parade, representing the British recruiting mission in the city, as well as repre- 
sentatives of other allied nations. Veterans of the Civil War, gray-haired but staunch of heart. 
sat in chairs provided for them and shook their canes proudly at the passing hosts. The pageant, 
divided into three battalions, required five hours to pass a given point. 

It frequently has been said that Philadelphia possesses the most active Red Cross organi- 
zation in the country. During the month of February, 1918, alone the production of the Chapter 
totaled nearly 700,000 surgical dressings, in addition to work performed in great quantities in 
other lines of activities. More than 425,000 members are enrolled in the local chapter, which 
was the governing and controlling organization for all auxiliaries in Delaware, Bucks, Montgom- 
er}' and Chester counties. 

Fifteen departments comprised the Chapter at the headquarters on Eighteenth Street, oppo- 
site Rittenhouse Square. Beside that place, six other buildings in various sections of Philadelphia 
were used for the work of the organization. Hospital garments and knitted goods were turned 
in to 1417 Walnut Street, and raw materials needing work done on them were obtained through 
a ])urchasing office at 1615 Walnut Street. 

Other workrooms and branch offices were at 1419 Spruce Street, where the cutting depart- 
ment was located; 1703 Walnut Street, where the shipping department was quartered; the 
School of Instruction, 218 South Nineteenth Street; 1607 Walnut Street, where the Department 
of Civilian Relief had its headquarters, and at Eighteenth and Locust Streets, where the can- 
teen department was housed in the residence of Mrs. George W. Childs Drexel. This latter 
department had a record of feeding more than 100.000 soldiers on their way through Philadel- 
phia. In the School of Instruction more than 9000 pui)ils were trained in matters of first aid, 
the preparing of surgical dressings and making hospital sui)plies and in methods of teaching and 
imparting this knowledge to thousands of other persons. 

One qf the most interesting of Red Cross activities was the factory at 1315 Market Street. 
This place was established on February 22. 1918. for the purpose of making garments for 
French. Belgian. Italian and Polish refugees, and was operated entirely by volunteer workers, 
all of whom were women. Some of Philadelphia's socially prominent matrons and maids were 
employed several hours each day in the ])lace. 'Hie building and machinery were donated l)y Phda- 
delphia l)usiness tnen and manufacturers. 



338 THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



In addition to its other varied lines of work, the Red Cross in Philadelphia, co-operating with 
the city's hospitals, sent to France a number of completely equipped base hospitals, each with 
its complement of doctors, nurses and orderlies. There was scarcely a big hospital in Philadel- 
phia that did not feel keenly the loss of members of the stafT, but in each instance they gave 
the services of their experts with that pride of patriotic sacrifice that has been so magnificently 
manifested in the city. 

On September 17. 1917, United States Naval Hospitals Nos. 1 and 5 left the Philadelphia 
Navy Yard for service abroad. No. 5 was recruited in Philadelphia and its professional statT 
was largely from the Methodist Episcopal Hospital. Unit No. 1 was recruited in Brooklyn. 

Base Hospital No. 10, of the Pennsylvania Hospital, left Philadelphia on May 18, 1917, for 
Jersey City. Some time between September 1 and 5 the unit reached England and later was sent to 
France. On April 13, 1918, word reached Philadelphia that an exploding shell had injured three 
members of the unit's personnel. They were Drs. Edward B. Hodge, Henry K. Dillard and Miss 
Isabella Stambaugh, a nurse. They were struck while aiding the wounded. In connection with 
the Pennsylvania Hospital, it is interesting to note that as the oldest hospital in the United States 
she has sent members of her faculty to serve in every war this country has waged. The hospital 
sufifered keenly a loss of professional services during the war, and it was estimated that at least 
75 per cent of her faculty were in action on French soil. In spite of this, the work of the hos- 
pital at home was not impeded, and the only department to be even temporarily closed was the 
dental clinic. 

On July 24, 1917, Base Hospital No. 20, of the University of Pennsylvania, announced that 
it was ready for service. On November 30 the unit mobilized for duty. Training began on Mon- 
day, December 3, and two days after the base hospital moved its headquarters to the armor>' 
of the First Pennsylvania Cavalry, at Lancaster Avenue and Thirty-second Street. On April 1, 
1918. the unit left the West Philadelphia Station on the first leg of its journey to France. On 
April 20, 1918, a letter was received from Major J. B. Carnett, medical director of the base 
hospital, that the unit was quartered at an attractive watering place on the coast of Franc^,. 

On July 21. 1917, Base Hospital No. 38, formed by the Jefferson Hospital, left the city at 
3 o'clock in the morning on its trip to France. The night before a large farewell dance was given 
in honor of the unit at the Second Regiment Armory, Broad and Diamond Streets. 

On May 15. 1917, announcement was made by Dr. Charles H. Frazier, director of Army 
Base Hospital No. 34, which was organized by the Episcopal Hospital, that his unit was ready for 
active service at the front. The personnel included 265 men and women and the equipment was 
valued at $50,000. On December 27, of the same year, a cablegram was received that the unit had 
arrived safely in France. 

On November 2, 1917. members of a unit organized at the Hahnemann Hospital suflered a 
keen disappointment when word was received from the Government that the services of their 
organization were not needed in France. The hospital had a $50,000 equipment and a personnel of 
26 physicians, 65 nurses and 140 enlisted men. These had spent months in preparation, and the 
refusal of the Government to accept their offer caused deep chagrin in the ranks of the entire 
outfit. 

On October 29, 1917. a fully organized school to train enlisted men for hospital service 
abroad was opened at the Second Regiment Armory. It represented the first institution of its kind 
ever organized and was in charge of prominent Philadelphia specialists. When it was opened 
the school was in charge of Major J. S. Lambie. commanding officer, and Major W. M. L. Cop- 
lin, director of Base Hospital No. 38. 

During the war the Y. M. C. A. branch in Philadelphia perhaps sent more men of promi- 
nence into the service to brighten the lives of army and navy men than any other organization for 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 339 



relief. There was nothin"- in the way of oood cheer, from books to comradeship, that Philadelphia 
did not contribute through its Y. iVI. C. A. When the call came for funds in aid of the great work 
the city went far "over the top" with her quota, although Philadelphia and her four contiguous 
counties were asked to subscribe $1,300,000. The Knights of Columbus, the Young Men's Hebrew 
Association and the Salvation iVrmy also did excellent work, both in Philadelphia and abroad, and 
in this respect, as in others, the Catholics and Jews of Philadelphia were among the most active, 
the most alert and the most generous supporters of all efforts made for the comfort and well- 
l)eing of the soldiers and sailors of the Republi;. 

The Emergency Aid Committee, which began its work of humanitarian relief long before the 
United States entered the w^ar, owed its existence to the many inquiries as to what could be done 
to help persons suffering because of the war. On October 19 of the year hostiUties were opened a 
number of women gathered for the purpose of discussing that fact. On October 26 a committee 
of 100 was formed and later a headquarters donated. Subsequently, the organization tremen- 
dously increased in numbers and scope of effort, and its work was done in every section of the 
city, headquarters being at 1428 Walnut Street. The organization fostered missions of relief in 
the shape of food, clothing and money in every one of the war-stricken countries, obtained em- 
ployment for thousands at home and efficientlv lived up to the meaning of the word "Aid" in 
everything that it has accomplished. 

Among the services rendered during the war was that of the prisoners in the Eastern State 
Penitentiary at Philadelphia. Prison bars were unable to shut out patriotism, and the inside of 
the grim edifice on Fairmount Avenue during the beginning of hostilities was brightened with 
bunting and flags. 

Under the direction of Mrs. M. M. CulHn. a nurse from the Southeastern (Philadelphia) 
Chapter of the Red Cross, several hundred of the prisoners were occupied in rolling bandages, 
preparing surgical dressing and the large T-shaped bandages necessary to hold the dressings in 
place. Several thousand bandages a day were made, and in addition Xo the Red Cross work, the 
Eastern Penitentiary produced hundreds of thousands of pairs of socks, raised vegetables in the 
aid of food conservation and in many other ways put to shame thousands of idlers who contrib- 
uted nothing to the service of their country. 

Many other relief committees and clubs organized for that purpose, to say nothing of 
already existent clubs, entered enthusiastically into the spirit of war occupations. Among these may 
be mentioned the Citizens' and Soldiers' A.\d Committee for the assistance of wives and families 
of soldiers who faced destitution, because the bread-winner was removed, and the Personal Ser\-- 
ice Bureau, dedicated to the aid of the city's drafted and enlisted men. The latter had its head- 
quarters in Room 202. the mayor's reception room in the City Hall. 

The Ship Society, which was organized by Mrs. Francis Howard Williams, of Germantown, 
had for its aims the making of every woman in the land an evangelist for shipbuilding. Through 
the spread of its propaganda, the organization won official recognition from the Government. Di- 
rector-General Charles M. Schwab, of the Emergency Fleet Corporation, and Edward N. Hurley, 
chairman of the United States Shipping Board, were made president and vice president, respect- 
ively, of the organization. 

Patriotic Philadelphians also organized a country club for enlisted men of the army and navy. 
It was located at Rockledge, Fox Chase, on the northern border of the city. On February 11, 
1918, the Rotary Club, of Philadelphia, opened a clubhouse at No. 25 South Van Pelt street for 
the use of soldiers, sailors and marines during their hours of leisure. On July 4, 1917, the Ship 
and Tent Club was inaugurated and opened for the use of soldiers, sailors and marines. It was 



340 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHL4 





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THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 341 



located in Cooper Baltalion Hall. Chrislian and Twenty-third Streets. On August 2, 1917, in the 
presence of Mrs. josei^hus Daniels, wife of the secretary of the navy, the United Service Club, 
Twenty-second Street below Walnut, was opened for the use of enlisted men in all branches of 
( jovernment defense service. The clubhous^. was the old Children's Hospital. It was outfitted and 
was in charge of the Philadelphia branch of the Mothers' Army and Navy Committee of the 
National Congress of Mothers' and Parent-Teacher Associations. 

One of the most valuable aids that Uncle Sam had in Philadelphia was the Motor Messen- 
ger Corps, which was organized early in the spring of 1917 by Miss Letitia Latrobe McKim. 
She was chosen as captain after she had spent a year in France and understood the urgent need 
for a group of skillfully trained women who could master the difficulties of the service they were 
to perform without the usual questions of why and wherefore. On December 4, 1917, the coqDs 
took the oath of allegiance at Belmont Plateau in the presence of Brigadier General Waller and 
a number of socially prominent persons. 

In addition to the sad task of delivering messages announcing a bereavement to the family of 
men who had lost their lives in battle, members of the corps did much in the work of transport- 
ing supplies to various places about Philadelphia. During the Liberty Loan campaign they ren- 
dered efficient service. 

To celebrate the first anniversary of their organization the Motor Messenger Corps put into 
service a fully equipped motor ambulance of the same type as that used by Base Hospital Unit 
No. 38. The young women collected $3000 to pay for the ambulance, and public-spirited men 
equipped it. 

Philadelphia's last great activity in the collection of funds for war relief work was her con- 
tribution to the War Chest. The War Chest was a drive for funds to equip various organiza- 
tions, and was started for the purpose of eliminating individual drives for funds on the part of the 
units who would be benefited through a pooled collection. The following national war activities 
were given recognition by the War Chest directors: The American Red Cross, the Y. M. C. A. 
War Work Council, the Y. W. C. A. War Work Council, the Knights of Columbus, the Youn_g 
Men's Hebrew Association, the Salvation Army, the Boy Scouts of America, the National Jew- 
ish War Relief, the Commission of Training Camp Activities, the War and Navy Departments 
and the Community Recreation Service. 

The drive included for the Philadelphia district, outside the city, the counties of Delaware, 
Bucks, Montgomery and Chester. When the campaign was concluded its success was far greater 
than had been forecast. More than 400,000 subscribers pledged a fund that exceeded $20,000,000. 
E. T. Stotesbury. who managed the campaign, pointed out at its conclusion that no similar drive 
ever attempted had so many individual subscribers as the War Chest. 

In every respect, and in every direction, Philadelphia's activities during the war were abreast 
of her every tradition of pure and simple patriotism, and no city in the United States excelled her 
in devotion to the great cause of human freedom to which the country was committed in the 
most glorious epoch of her history since the days when the immortal Declaration of Independence 
was signed within her limits and her Liberty Bell pealed the tocsin of freedom that reverberated 
throughout the world. 



CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE 



RED-LETTER DOINGS IN WORLD WAR 

Chronology of Events From the Assassination of Archduke Francis 
Ferdinand Until the Signing of Peace 



On June 28, 1914, the Archduke Ferdinand, heir apparent to the throne of Austria, and his 
morganatic wife, the Duchess of Hohenberg, while on a visit to Sarajevo, Bosnia, were shot to 
death by Gavrio Prinzip. a Serbian student. 

On July 5, according to the confession of the Baron Wangenheim, German ambassador to 
Turkey, to Henry Morgenthau, the American ambassador to the Ottoman empire, there was a 
secret meeting in Berlin and the decision was reached to use this assassination as a pretext for 

the long-planned war. 

On July 23 humanity was surprised by the ultimatum deHvered by the Government of the 
aged Francis Joseph of Austria to little Serbia ; it imposed terms which no self-respecting nation 
could accept. They were uncalled for, insulting. The world cried out at the injustice of it all. 
Serbia, however, in the hope of preventing the carnage which now loomed as a terrible proba- 
bility, accepted all the humiliating terms but one. and on this it asked further information. All 
efforts at mediation by England and other powers were spurned, and at the end of July war was 
regarded as inevitable. Later on Austria invaded Serbia. 

August, 1914, was a month of declarations of war. On the first day Germany declared war 
on Russia ; on the third it declared war on France and demanded of Belgium the right to march 
her troops through that neutral country to attack her neighbor on the west and south. But Bel- 
gium was true to her treaties and refused, whereupon the same day Germany declared war on 
Belgium. Then, to the disgust of Germany and Austria. Italy, the third nation of the Triple 
Alliance, declared her neutrality, basing her action that the alliance was for defense, and not 

offense. 

England, a signatory to the treaty which guaranteed the neutrality of Belgium, demanded 
that Germany respect that treaty, but the German chancellor termed this sacred obligation a 
"scrap of paper," and refused. August 4, England, true to her promises, declared war on Ger- 
many. In anticipation, her mighty high seas fleet had l)een mobilized and had sailed away. Ger- 
many's ports were blocked from the outset, and British men-of-war began scouring the seas for 
such of the kaiser's warships as were not blocked up at home. In a trice the German merchant 
marine sought shelter in neutral ports. 

August 5 Montenegro declared war on Austria, and the American Congress voted money and 
planned relief for the thousands of American tourists in Europe who were cut off and left 
stranded by the war. August 6 Austria declared war on Russia. August 7 the German army 
^-occupied the city of Liege and the first British troops landed on French soil. The French took 
Altkirk, in Alsace. Two days later they took Muelhausen, and the same day Serbia declared war 
on Germany. August 11 German troops entered France by way of Luxemburg, and the day's 
declarations of war were of France on Austria and Montenegro on Germany. The next day Eng- 
land declared war on Austria. 

On the 15th, from the extreme East came Japan's ultimatum to Germany to give up her 
Chinese possession of Kiao-Chau. On the 20th the Belgian Government abandoned Brussels. 
On the 25th the invaders destroyed Louvain, with its library and all its priceless, irreplaceable 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



343 



treasures of ancient volume and manuscript. The same day Austria declared war on Japan The 
month found the ( lermans advanced as far as Amiens, in France, while Russia was pouring her 
armies into East Prussia and (ialicia. 

By September 3 the German rush had reached such a menacing })osition that Paris was im- 
periled and the French (Government removed to Bordeaux. But on the 7th the drive was 
checked and the Germans began to fall l)ack, continuing to do so until much iM-ench territory had 
been recovered and Paris was saved from any menace. 

The submarine, destined to play such an important part in the war, showed its mi"-ht on Sep- 
tember 22 by sinking the British cruisers Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue. Antwerp fell to the 
invaders October 9, Ghent October 12 and Lille October 13. On that day IVinzip, whose shot 
was used as the excuse for the war, was placed on trial at Sarajevo. October 29 he was sentenced 
to twenty years in prison, and four of his associates were condemned to the gallows. On the 30th 
Russia declared war on Turkey. 

With the war in full swing, incident followed incident without cessation. The more impor- 
tant events in chronological order follow : 



1914 

November 1, British squadron sunk by German 
ships off Chile. 

November 5, Great Britain declares war on Tur- 
key and annexed Cyprus. 

November 7, Japanese capture Kiao-Chau. 

November 9, Germans surrender Tsing-tau to 
Japanese. 

November 18, Turks fire on U. S. S. Tennessee 
in Smyrna harbor. 

November 19, American Government demands 
explanation from Turkey. November 27, Secre- 
tary Bryan announces that the Tennessee incident 
is closed. 

December 2, Austrians capture Belgrade, Ser- 
bia's capital. 

December 7, Serbians destroy Austria's army 
of invasion. 

December 8, British fleet destroys German fleet, 
consisting of the cruisers Leipzig, Scharnhorst, 
Gniesenau and Nuernberg, off the Falkland 
Islands. 

December 14, Serbians retake Belgrade. 

December 16, Germans shell British coast 
towns of Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby, 
killing ninety-three civilians. 

December 27, United States protests against 
British stoppage of American trade. 

1915 

January 2, the Russians started the new year 
by invading Hungary at four points. 

January 6, Russians defeat Turks at Sarika- 
mysh, destroying an entire army corps. 

January 25, British ships sink German cruiser 
Bluecher in the North Sea and win a battle against 
Boer rebels at Uppington, Bechuanaland, South 
Africa. 

February 2, Great Britain makes food contra- 
band. 



February 3, Anglo-French fleet destroys four 
Turkish forts at the Dardanelles. 

February 4, Boer rebels surrender to British, 
who also rout the Turks north of Suez. 

February 5, Germany hurls a mighty force 
against Russia at Borijmow, and is defeated. 
British smash Turks at Suez. 

February 11, the United States warns both 
Great Britain and Germany not to abuse the 
American flag or attack American ships. 

February 16, America protests proposed Ger- 
man blockade of British Isles. 

February 18, Germany rejects America's pro- 
test. 

February 21, American steamship Evelyn sunk 
by a mine. 

February 23, American ship Corib sunk by a 
mine in the North Sea. 

February 27, General Botha leads a British in- 
vasion of German West Africa. 

March 1, Great Britain declares a virtual block- 
ade of the German coast. 

March 10, German auxiliary cruiser Prinz Kite! 
Friedrich runs the British blockade and later in- 
terns at Newport News, announcing the sinking 
of the American ship William P. Frye. 

March 18, British battleships Irresistible and 
Ocean and French battleship Bouvet sunk in the 
Dardanelles. 

March 22, Russians capture the Galician fort- 
ress of Przemysl. 

March 23, Allied troops land at Gallipoli. 

March 25, Turks masaccre American mission- 
aries and other Christians to the number of 20,- 
000 in Persia. Russia begins terrific battle in the 
Carpathians and captures Lupkow Pass. 

March 27, French capture heights at Hart- 
manns-Weilerkopf. 



344 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




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THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Marcli ZS, Cjennans torpedo British passenger 
steamship Falal)a off South Wales, and 112 pas- 
sengers are lost. 

April 5, America demands reparation from Ger- 
many for the sinking of the Frye. 

April 9, Germany agrees to compensate owners 
of the Frye. French capture L-es Eparges, domi- 
nating the Woevre. 

April 11. German auxiliary cruiser Kronprinz 
W'illielm arrives at Newport News and later 
interns. 

April 12, Cierman Ambassador von Bcrnstorff, 
ignoring the Government, calls on the American 
])eople to stop exporting arms and munitions to 
the Allies. 

May 2, Aastria wins great victory over Rus- 
sians in West Galicia. 

May 7, British liner Lusitania sunk without 
warning by German submarine off Kinsale, Ire- 
land, entailing the loss of more than 1200 persons, 
among whom were more than 100 Americans. 
Contrary to all international law, the German 
ambassador had impudently warned Americans 
from sailing on this ship. 

May 8, Germans capture Libau, Russia. 

May 13, President Wilson sends stern note to 
Germany, demanding reparation for the loss of 
American lives on the Lusitania and demanding 
that submarine attacks on passenger vessels 
cease. 

May 22, Italy declares war on Austria. 

May 24, Italians invade Austria. 

May 31. Germany replies to American Lusi- 
tania note and intimates that the vessel carried 
troops and munitions. Washington dissatisfied 
with the reply. 

June 2, Teutons recapture Przemysl. San 
Marino declares war on Austria. 

June 3, British advance in Mesopotamia and 
occupy Amara. Asiatic Tu'-key. 

June 9, William Jennings Bryan resigns as sec- 
retary of state. 

June 10, President Wilson sends another vigor- 
ous note to Germany on the Lusitania matter and 
reiterates his demands for the observance of 
international law. 

June 14, General Mackensen begins drive 
against Russians. 

June 15, French airmen I)omb Karlsruhe, in 
Raden. 

June 22, Teutons occupy Lemberg. 

June 30, Russians win naval battle in tlie Baltic 
Sea. 

July 5, United States refuses to negotiate infor- 
mally with Germany on its reply to the Lusitania 
notes. Government takes over German wireless 



345 



station at Sayville, Long Island. British capture 
all of German Southwest Africa. 

July 19, Greatest battle to date of the war 
begins in Russian Poland, with 6,000.000 men 
engaged and covering a front of 900 miles. Italians 
make big gains in Austria. 

August 4, British reply to American protest 
asserts that nation is acting strictly in accord- 
ance witii international law, and expresses 
a willingness to submit disputed questions to arbi- 
tration. Germany asserts in note that sinking of 
the Frye was legal. 

August S, Germans capture Warsaw, capital of 
Poland. 

August 10, Turkish army of 90,000 defeated by 
Russians in Armenia. 

August 14, German submarine sinks British 
transport Royal Edward in the Aegean Sea, and 
1000 soldiers and sailors are lost. 

August 19, White Star liner Arabic sunk by 
German submarine; twenty lives lost. 

August 26, Germans occupy Russian fortress of 
Brest-Litovsk. 

September 1, Germany agrees to sink no more 
merchant ships without warning. 

September 10, President Wilson demands that 
Austria recall its ambassador. Dr. Dumba. 

September 22, Bulgaria orders her army mobil- 
ized. 

September 24, Greece orders the mobilization 
of her army and navy. 

September 25, Entente Allies begin big drive 
against Germans from North Sea to Verdun and 
take 20,000 prisoners. 

September 28, British smash German line at 
Loos. 

October 5, Germany disavows sinking of the 
Arabic and offers to pay indemnity. The United 
States demands of Turkey that massacre of 
Armenians cease. 

October 6, French and British troops land at 
Saloniki. King Constantine dismisses Premier 
Venizelos. 

October 7. Austro-German invasion of Serbia 
begins. 

October 10, Bulgarians invade Serbia and de- 
clare war against her. Greece refuses aid to 
Serbia promised by treaty. 

October IS, Great Britain declares war on Bulgaria. 

October 16, France declares war on Bulgaria. 

October 19, Russian and Italy declare war on Bul- 
garia. 

November 6, Germans capture Nish. Serbia. 

November 8, Secretary Lansing tells Great Britain 
that blockade is illegal. 

December 1. British army in Mesopotamia driven 
back to Kut-el-.'Kmara. America demands of .Austria 



346 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



an explanation of the sinking of the Italian pas- 
senger liner Ancona. 

December 4, Henry Ford's peace ship sails. 

December 9, Germany announces the conquest of 

Serbia. 

December 16, Austria, replying- to the Ancona 

note, evades the issue. 

December 19, British withdraw army from 

Gallipoli. 

December 2i, America sends second note to Aus- 
tria on the Ancona question. German reply to last 
Frye note is unsatisfactory. 

December 25, Henry Ford, ill, leaves peace party 
and starts for home. 

December 30, Austria yields in part on Ancona 
matter, agrees to punish submarine commander and 
admits American contention as to the safety of 
passengers. British passenger steamship Persia sunk 
without warning in the Mediterranean. R. M. Mc- 
Neely, American consul, and 200 others drown. 

1916. 
January 7, Von Bernstorff agrees that no merchant 
ship shall be sunk until all passengers have been 
made safe and assures full satisfaction in the Persia 
incident. 

January 11, Germans begin big ofifensivc in Cham- 
pagne and are repulsed by the French. 

January 28, President Wilson asks all belligerents 
to agree to the disarming of merchant ships and to 
rules on submarine warfare. 

February 1, British steamship Appam, supposed to 
be lost, enters Norfolk harbor under a German prize 
crew. 

February 4, Germany refuses to admit the illegal- 
ity of the Lusitania sinking. 

February 14, all single men in Great Britain called 
to the colors. 

February 23, Germans begin drive on Verdun. 
February 26, Germans take Fort Douaumont, of 
Verdun defenses, after suffering heavy losses. 

March 3, United States Senate tables Gore resolu- 
tion warning Americans off armed merchantmen. 

March 4, French report loss of auxiliary cruiser 
Provence, with about 3000 soldiers. 

March 7, House of Representatives tables Mc- 
Lemore resolution warning Americans off armed 
merchantmen. 

March 8, Germany declares war on Portugal. 
March 20, Allied airmen raid Zeebrugge. 
March 24, British steamship Sussex, with Amer- 
icans on board, torpedoed. 

March 27, President Wilson demands explanation 
from Germany on the sinking of the Sussex. 

April 1, Zeppelin raid on England kills 28, injures 
44. 

April 2, second Zeppelin raid on England kills 
16 and wounds 100. 



April 4, new British liudget, $9,000,000,000, largest 
in world's history. 

April 10, Germans start offensive near Verdun. 
April 11, Germany denies sinking the Sussex, but 
admits sinking several others, including the Eagle 
Point and Manchester Guardian. 

April 12, President Wilson sends ultimatum on 
Sussex to Germany and summons Congress to tell 
why. Russians capture Trebizond. 

April 19, Russian army lands at Marseilles. French 
Iiegin offensive at Verdun. 

April 24, Irish rising in Dubin. Twelve persons 
killed. 

April 28, British garrison at Kut-el-Amara sur- 
renders to Turkey. 

May 1, Irish rebellion ends. Leaders, including 
President Pearce, executed. 

May 5, Germany tells United States illegal U-boat 
methods will stop if the United States forces Great 
Britain to raise her blockade. 

May 10, Germany admits sinking the Sussex. 
May 23, French make large gains in Verdun sec- 
tion. 

May 27, United States demands that Allies stop 
illegal seizure of mails. 

May 31, Sea battle off Jutland. British lose four- 
teen ships ; German losses heavy, but concealed. 

June 2, Russia begins new oft'ensive against Aus- 
tria. 

June 7, Earl Kitchener and staff lost when British 
cruiser Hampshire is sunk on the way to Russia. 

June 11, Russians force Austrians back twenty-five 
miles on a 100-mile front, taking 108,000 prisoners. 
June 15, Russians recapture Czernowitz. 
July 1, Allies begin grand offensive on both sides 
of the Somme and make large gains. 

July 5, General Foch captures second German sys- 
tem of fortified line on a ten-mile front and several 
towns. 

July 10, German merchant submarine Deutsch- 
land reaches Baltimore. 

July 12-14, British make substantial gains in 
France. 

July 22, Russians pierce Von Hindenburg's line 
at several points and also drive Austrians back. 

August 1, German merchant submarine Deutsch- 
land leaves Baltimore for Germany. 

August 3, Sir Roger Casement hanged for treason. 
August 8. Italians capture Goritzia. 
August 9, Germans execute Captain Fryatt, of the 
British steamship Brussels, for an alleged attack on 
a submarine. 

August 23, Deutschland reaches Germany, com- 
pleting the first round trip across the ocean of a 
submarine merchantman in the history of the world. 
August 27, Rumania declares war on Austria and 
Germany declares war on Rumania. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



347 



Scpteniher 25, Allies caplurt' C'onilik's and Tliici>- 
vai. 

October 7, the German war submarine LJ-5,? readies 
Newport, R. I 

October 8, U-53 sinks five British and neutral 
steamships off Nantucket and survivors are rescued 
by American warships. 

October 12, Italians make new drive on Carso 
plateau. 

October 16, Entente powers recognize Greek Gov- 
ernment set up by Venezelos, occupy Athens and 
take over navy and forts. 

October 29, British steamship Marina, with fifty 
Americans on board, sunk without warning. 

November 1, German merchant submarine Deutsch- 
land reaches New London, Connecticut. Italians be- 
gin new offensive against Austrians and take 15,000 
prisoners. 

November 8, American steamship Columbian at- 
tacked by German submarine. 

November 21, Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria 
dies. 

November 22, Germans sink British hospital ship 
Britannic. Fifty lives lost. 

December 6, Austro-Germans capture Bucharest. 

December 11, Deutschland reaches Bremen. 

December 12, Germany and her allies propose 
peace. 

December 14, Entente Allies demand reparation, 
restitution and security for the future. 

December 21, President Wilson tells Europe Amer- 
ica has been brought to the verge of war and de- 
mands peace terms as a basis for future conduct. 

1917. 

January 9, Allies reply to President Wilson, giving 
peace terms. 

January 22, President Wilson tells Senate peace 
without victory necessary if United States enters 
league to enforce peace. 

February 1, Germany declares U-boat blockade 
and says that all neutral ships entering defined zone 
will be sunk without warning. 

February 3. The United States severs diplomatic 
relations with Germany. Federal officers seize Ger- 
man liner Kronprinzessin Cecile. American steam- 
ship Housatonic sunk near Scilly Islands by sub- 
marine. 

February 10, British passenger steamship Califor- 
nia sunk without warning. Forty-six drown. 

February 26, President Wilson asks Congress for 
authority to use armed forces to protect American 
rights and shipping. Cunard liner Laconia torpedoed 
and three Americans were killed. 

March 1, State Department reveals German plot 
to induce Mexico and Japan to invade the United 
States. 



Maicii 7, Tile President decides to arm merchant 
ships in spite of Congress' refusal to approve. 

March 12, President Wilson notifies nations armed 
guard will protect American ships. British capture 
Bagdad. 

March 14, American steamship Algonquin torpe- 
doed without warning. Russian revolution announced 
in Petrograd. Czar dethroned. 

March 17, British take Bapaume. 

March 24, Massachusetts National Guard called 
out. 

March 29, British defeat 20,000 Turks in Pakstine. 

April 2, President Wilson calls on Congress to de- 
clare a state of war with Germany. 

April 4, Senate votes for war, 82 to 6. 

April 6, House passes war resolution, 373 to 50, 
and President Wilson issues proclamation of war 
with Germany. German ships in American ports 
seized. 

April 9, Austria severs diplomatic relations with 
the United States. British break German lines and 
capture Vimy Ridge. Brazil severs diplomatic rela- 
tions with Germany. 

April 10, Eddystone munitions works explosion 
causes 150 deaths. 

April 21, British mission headed by Foreign Sec- 
retary Balfour lands in the United States. 

April 24, French mission with Marshal Joffre lands 
in the United States. 

submarine. 

May 5, Secretary Balfour addresses Congress. 

May 11, President Wilson names American com- 
mission, headed by Elihu Root, to Russia. 

May 12, British smash Hindenburg line from Ar- 
ras to Bullecourt. 

May 14, First American Liberty Loan for $2,000,- 
000,000 started. 

May 18, National Guard called into Federal serv- 
ice to mobilize July 15. The President signs the 
draft bill, calling into service men from 21 to 30 
years. 

June 5, registration for the draft takes place. 

July 6, British capture Messines-Wytschaete sali- 
ent in greatest mining operation. 

June 8, Major-General John J. Pershing, Amer- 
ican commander, reaches England. 

June 13, General Pershing arrives in Paris. 

June 14, First Liberty Loan oversubscribed. 

June 26, First American troops arrive in France. 

July 13, First draft of 687,000 men called to colors. 

July 17, Von Bethmann Hollweg, German Chan- 
cellor, resigns. 

July 25. Austro-Germans capture Santislau, Tarno- 
pol and Nodvorna, Galicia, and Russians are in full 
retreat. 



348 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



August 13, Greece definitely at war with Central 
Powers. 

August 14, Pope Benedict proposes peace. 

August 29, President Wilson tells the Pope no 
peace can he signed with the present German Gov- 
ernment. 

Septemher 3, German aircraft raid Chatham, Eng- 
land, killing 108 British sailors in barracks. 

September 7, German airmen bomb American hos- 
pitals in France, killing three persons. 

September 12, Argentine dismisses German Min- 
ister Luxburg owing to American disclosures of his 
activities. 

September 15, First American drafted men start 

for camp. 

September 16, Kerensky declares Russian republic. 

September 20, State Department reveals that 
BernstorfT had asked German Government for $50,- 
000 to influence Congress. 

September 24, Secretary Lansing discloses German 
plot to spread disease in Rumania by means of mi- 
crobes. 

October 1, Second Liberty Loan drive, for $3,000,- 

000,000, begun. 

October 4, British make gains in Flanders. 
October 16, Sedition and arson sweep the United 
States, and there are numerous fires and explosions 
in war industries. 

October 20, Two German raiders in North Sea de- 
f;troy nine merchant ships and two destroyers. Amer- 
ican transport Antilles sunk by submarine and sev- 
enty lives are lost. 

October 23, German Chancellor Michaelis resigns. 
October 25, Italians driven back across the Isonzo. 
October 27, first American shot fired at Germans 
by an artilleryman. 

October 28, Americans capture their first war 
prisoner. 

October 30, Italian army in full retreat. 
November 1, British capture Beersheba, Palestine. 
Kerensky announces that Russia is tired of war and 
that the Allies must assume the burden. 

November 3, first Americans taken prisoner by 
Germans. 

November 6, new American-Japanese agreement 
guaranteeing npen door and integrity of China 
announced. 

November 7, British capture Gaza, Palestine. 
November 8, Kerensky deposed. 
November 10, Lenine announced as premier of 
Russia by Bolsheviki, Trotzky foreign minister. 
Bolsheviki demand immediate peace. 

November 19, American destroyer Chauncey sunk. 
November 21, British use tanks in attack on Hin- 
denburg line on a thirty-two-mile front. 

November 24, Bolsheviki begin peace negotiations 
with Central Powers. 



December 4, President Wilson asserts Prussian 
military masters must be crushed and asks congress 
to declare war on Austria. 

December 5, Rumania forced to accept a German 
peace. 

December 6, explosion on French munitions ship 
at Halifax kills 1500 persons, injuries thousands, 
destroys thousands of buildings and renders 20,000 
persons homeless. American destroyer Jacob Jones 
sunk, sixty lives lost. 

December 10, British capture Jerusalem. 

December 27, Germany offers peace on basis of no 
annexations and no indemnities. 

December 28, American government takes over the 

railroads. 

1918. 
January 8, President Wilson states war aims. 
January 15, American government submits evi- 
dence that former French Premier Caillaux was 
involved with Bolo Pasha in a conspiracy to spread 
German propaganda. 

January 17, Harry A. Garfield, fuel administrator, 
orders all factories except war plants closed for five 
days, and all mercantile establishments to close on 
eleven successive Mondays. 
January 19, American troops take over Toul sector. 
January 22), Austrians retreat on a wide front west 
of the Piave. 

January 31, nation-wide strikes in Germany. 
February 7, British transport Tuscania, carrying 
American troops, torpedoed ofif Irish coast. One 
hundred and seventy lives lost. 

February 9, Ukraine signs peace with Germany 
and Austria. 

February 11, Bolsheviki declare war at an end 
order troops to disband. 

February 19, Germans resume invasion of Russia 
and occupy Dvinsk. 

February 21, British in Palestine capture Jericho. 
March 2, American troops repulse Germans in 
Toul sector and along Chemin des Dames. 

March 3, Bolsheviki sign an abject peace with 
Teutonic nations. 

March 9, Rumania makes peace with Bolsheviki. 
March 11, Secretary of War Baker reaches 
Paris. Austrian airmen bombard Naples and 
German airmen bomb Paris, killing 100 persons 
in the latter city. Americans raid German 
trenches. 

March 12, sixty German airmen raid Paris, 
causing 179 casualties. 

March 14, German troops occupy Odessa. 
March 21, British begin big drive on fifty-mile 
front from Arras to St. Quentin. 

March 23. Paris bombarded by long-range gun. 
March 25, Germans capture Peronne and Ba- 
paume. American engineers aid in opposing 
them. 



rilE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



34'> 




Phirce School, Pine Street, West of Broad 



350 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



March 28, British repor* destruction of entire 
Turkish army in the Hit area, Mesopotamia. 
General Foch named generalissimo of Allied 
forces. 

April 5, French repulse massed German attack 
in Montdidier sector. 

April 10, Americans enter Picardy and help 
Iieat Germans back from Amiens. 

April IS, Germans take Messines Ridge and 
Balleul. 

April 21, German picked troops penetrate 
American sector, but are driven back. 

April 23, British naval forces raid Zeebrugge 
and Ostend and block harbor by sinking cement- 
laden vessels and destroy lock gates. 

April 24, first half million Americans in France. 

April 26, Germans capture Kenimel Hill. 

April 30, France bestows war medal on 122 
Alassachusetts soldiers for valor. 

May 1, alien enemy property taken over by 
United States Government announced at $280,- 
000.000 to date. 

May 2, Secretary Baker asks Congress for per- 
mission to raise an unlimited number of troops. 

May 4, President Wilson commutes death sen- 
tence of four American soldiers. 

May 11, National army men parade in London 
before King George. 

May 19, Major Lufbury, American ace, killed 
in air battle. 

May 21, General Peyton C. March made chief 
of staff of the American army. 

May 22, German airmen raid Allied hospitals, 
killing several hundred. 

May 23, British transport Moldavia sunk, fifty- 
tliree Am-erican soldiers drown. Germany re- 
leases a million Russian prisoners, reduced to 
skeletons, and most of them suffering from tuber- 
culosis. 

May 25, Mexico severs relations with Cuba. 
Costa Rica declares war on Germany. 

May 27, Germans breach Allied line between 
Soissons and Rheims. 

May 28, Americans capture Cantigny. 

June 1, French counter-attack and r«cover much 
ground. 

June 3, German submarines sink steamsliip and 
five schooners off American coast. 

June 4, Americans and French hurl Germans 
back in Chateau-Thierry region. 

June 6, Great German drive on Paris stopped 
by Americans at Chateau-Thierry. 

June 11, American marines capture Belleau 
Wood. 

June 29, Americans arrive in Italy. 

July 1, One million American soldi-ers in France. 
American troops land in Russia. 



July 18, Marshal Foch begins great counter- 
offensive. 

July 22, Americans and French capture Cha- 
teau-Thierry. 

July 28, Sixty-ninth New York regiment 
crosses the Ourcq. 

August 4, Americans take Fismes. 

August 10, Americans in Somme region capture 
Morlancourt. 

August 24. 1,500,000 American soldiers n 
France. 

August 31, Americans and British recapture 
Mount Kemmel in Fland^^rs. 

September 1, Americans m Belgium take Koor- 
mezeele. 

September 6, American join British in Cambrai- 
St. Quentin drive. 

September 12, American First army wipes out 
St. Mihiel salient in twenty-seven hours, taking 
15,000 prisoners and reducing the battleline twen- 
ty miles. 

September 29, Americans rip the Hindenburg 
line. 

September 29, Bulgaria surrenders uncondition- 
ally to the Allies. 

October 3, King Ferdinand of Bulgaria abdi- 
cates in favor of Crown Prince Boris. American 
First army begins an offensive from the Argonne 
Forest to the Meuse and advances to the Kriem- 
Iiilde line. 

October 6, Germany, through Prince Max, the 
chancellor, asks President Wilson to make peace 
move on basis of the president's conditions. 

October 8, President Wilson asks Prince Max 
whether he speaks for the former Government 
or a new one. 

October 12, Germany agrees to all of the presi- 
dent's peace terms as announced in January. 

October 14, President Wilson replies, denying 
an armistice as long as Germany persists in illegal 
practices. 

October 15, 2,000,000 American soldiers over- 
seas. 

October 19, The president rejects Austria's 
peace proposal on old terms. 

October 21, Germany makes new armistice pro- 
posal and denies atrocities. 

October 24, President Wilson demands of Ger- 
many full surrender. 

October 28, Germany replies that it awaited 
armistice proposals which would lead to a just 
peace. Austria accepts all the president's terms 
and asks for a separate peace. 

October 30, Turkey unconditionally surrenders 
to the Allies. 

November 1, King Boris of Bulgaria abdicates. 
Government taken over by the people. 



THE STORY OF PII ILADRLPllIA 



351 



Xovenil)er 3, Austria accepts all terms and un- 
conditionally surrenders. 

Noveml)er 6, Secretary Lansins.^ notifies Ger- 
many that Marshal Foch is authorized by the 
Allied Governments to receive German envoys 
and stat-e terms of an armistice. 

November 7, Americans capture Sedan. False 
report that peace had been signed leads to wild 
country-wide celebration. 

November 8, German peace envoys enter the 
French lines and meet Marshal Foch. 

November 9, Kaiser Wilhelm IT of Germany 
abdicates, and his eldest son and heir to the 
throne renounces all rights thereto. 

November 10, Revolution spreads through all 
Germany. Former Kaiser and Crown Prince flee 
to Holland. 

November 11, State Department at Washing- 
ton announces, at 2.45 A. M., that the armistice 
had been signed at midnight. THE GREAT 
WORLD WAR ENDED AT 6 A. M. (Washing- 
ton time). 

November 12, President Wilson tells German 
Chancellor Ebert that Allies will supply food to 
Germany. 

November 13, Holland permits former kaiser 
to dwell on Dutch soil, i)ut interns him. 

November 15, Belgian troops enter Brussels. 
November 21, Main German fleet surrenders to 
Allies. King Albert enters Brussels and Amer- 
ican troops Luxemburg. 

November 25, Radicals seize the Government at 
Berlin. 

November 28, Jews murdered by thousands as 
Poles enter Lemberg. 

November 29, Allies agree on demand for sur- 
render of former kaiser. 

November 30, American delegates to the peace 
conference named. 

December 2, President W^ilson addresses Con- 
g'ress, outlining peace plans. 

December 4, President Wilson sails for France. 
December 5, reign of terror opens in Berlin 
and continues for week. 

December 9, American troops enter Coblentz. 
December 10, Counter-revolution started in 
Berlin. 

December 13, President Wilson lands at Brest, 
France. 

December 14, Luncheon given by President 
Poincare of France in honor of President Wilson. 
December 16, President Wilson welcomed by 
Paris municipality and given freedom of the city. 
December 23, Bolsheviki doctrines spread west- 
ward. 

December 24, Allies decide not to send large 
armed forces to Russia. 



December 26, President Wilson reaches Lon- 
don. Is met by King George and taken to Buck- 
ingham Palace. 

December 27, President Wilson confers with 
Premier Lloyd George. 

December 28, President Wilson speaks at the 
Guild Hall, London, urging a concert of the 
nations. 

December 31, President Wilson leaves London 
and arrives in Paris. 

1919 

January 1, President Wilson leaves Paris for 
Rome. 

January 3, President Wilson reaches Rome. 
Given great ovation. 

January 4, President Wilson visits Pope Bene- 
dict. 

January 6, President Wilson leaves Rome for 
Paris. 

January 10, Government troops get control of 
Berlin. Sixty-five killed in street fighting. 

January 11, Dr. Karl Liebknecht and Rose Lux- 
emburg, leaders of Berlin Reds, murdered on pub- 
lic streets. 

January 17, Counter-revolution sweeps Petro- 
grad. 

January 18, peace conference opens in Paris. 

January 20, President Wilson is guest of the 
French Senate. 

January 21, Allies plan economic relief for 
Russia. 

January 22, Peace Conference decides to send 
mission to Poland. 

January 23, Conference accepts plan of dealing 
with Russia. 

January 25, Lloyd-George submits League of 
Nations plan to Peace Conference. 

January 30, Allies accept President Wilson's 
plan of mandatories to control captured German 
colonics. 

February 5, first three planks in League of 
Nations pact agreed to. 

February 6, general outline of League of Na- 
tions plan is agreed to by Peace Conference. 

February 7, Peace Conference appoints commis- 
sion to meet Russian Soviet delegates. 

February 11, Japan threatens war on China if 
secret treaty between the two countries is re- 
vealed. 

February 13, rebels fire on royal palace at 

Bucharest. 

February 14, plan of League of Nations is pub- 
lished in America. 

February 15, President Wilson sails from Brest 
for home. 



352 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Fel^ruary 19, Premier Clemenceau of France 
shot and wounded by assassin. 

February 22, civil war breaks out in Munich, 
capital of Bavaria. 

F-ebruary 24, President Wilson arrives in 
Boston. 

February 28, Senator Lodge and other Repul)- 
lican Senators assail League of Nations plan in 
the Unit-ed States Senate. 

March 1, Italy refuses to sul)mit iier Adriatic 
claims to arbitration. 

March 2, fierce fighting in streets of Berlin. 
March 3, thirty-seven Republican members of 
United States Senate sign "Round Robin" 
against League of Nations pact, as then outlined. 
March 4, President Wilson and former Presi- 
dent Taft appear on same platform in New York 
urging acceptance of League of Nations pact. 

March 6, United States warns Italy to stop de- 
laying sending of food to Jugo-Slavs. 

March 10', Taft amendments to League of Na- 
tions plan submitted to the Peace Conference. 

March 11, German insurgents rain bombs on 
Berlin. 

March 15. President Wilson reaches Paris on 
second visit. 

March 19, England is won over to Wilson plan 
of including League of Nations pact in the peace 
treaty. 

March 20, Peace Conference agrees to amend 
League of Nations plan along the lines of more 
fuller recognition of the Monroe doctrine. 

March 21, Many outbreaks in Egypt against 
British supremacy. 

March 22, Italy thr-eatens to quit the Peace 
Conference if refused seaport of Fiume. 

March 24, Hungary joins hands with Bolshe- 
vists of Russia. 

March 30, the Peace Conference Committee on 
Responsibility for the War reports in favor of 
trial of the German Kaiser and others. 

April 2, Street riots in Frankfort. Eleven killed. 
April 5, Allies rush troops to aid of those in 
South Russia. 

April 8, President Wilson hints that he may 
quit conference. Steamer George Washington 
ordered to Brest. 

April 14, President Wilson sees Premier Or- 
lando of Italy in regard to Italy's claims in the 
Adriatic. 



April 15, the Rhine frontier fixed by Peace Con- 
ference. 

April 16, Premier Lloyd George addresses the 
House of Commons, outlining progress of the 
Peace Conference. 

April 19, Adriatic claims of Italy heard by the 
conference. 

April 23, President Wilson issues statement in- 
dicating that city of Fiume sliould h-t given to 
the Jugo-Slavs. 

April 25, Premier Orlando ciuits Paris and the 
Peace Conference. 

April 28, text of the revised League of Nations 
published. Amendments indicated along lines of 
ample protection for the Monroe Doctrine. 

May 1, Japan gets economic concessions in 
Sliantung, China. 

May 4, Peace Conference decides to make 
Fium-e free port for five years, after which it 
reverts to Italy. 

May 5, Belgium agrees to sign peace treaty. 
May 7, terms of peace treaty presented to 
(ierman delegates at V-ersailles. 

May 13, President Ebert protests that treaty 
does not conform to President Wilson's Fourteen 
Points. 

May 15, Iron Division, of Pennsylvania troops, 
parades in city amidst scenes of the wildest 
enthusiasm. 

May 16, Allies arrange truce between Ukrain- 
ians and Poles. 

May 21, German Ministry denounces the peace 
treaty. 

May 22, Workmen's Council of Berlin demands 
that the treaty be signed. 

May 28, Germans make claim of $1,285,000,000 
for losses sustained by Allies' blockade. 

May 29, Germans submit other counter-pro- 
posals to Allies. 

May 31, Allies reject Germany's counter- 
proposals. 

June 2, Conditions of peace delivered to Austria. 
June 6, Allies reject proposal for discussion of 
treaty. 
Allies signed at Versailles. 

June 13, Allies virtually rewrite peace treaty. 
June 16, Germany gets revised treaty. 
June 20, German Cabinet auirs. 
June 23, Germany agrees to sign treaty. 
June 28, Peace treaty signed. 



BIOGRAPHIES 



354 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




HON. WILLIAM C. SPROUL 



pHYSICALLY, morally and intellectually, 
William Cameron Sproul is a big man, and 
when, on January 21 of this year of grace, 1919, 
he was sworn in as governor of the great state 
of Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth secured 
an executive head of which it has had ample 
reason to be justly and legitimately proud. 
"A man of action and achievement ; the man of 
the hour in the civic life of Pennsylvania," he 
has been aptly called, and that the tenure of 
his exalted office will be ])roductive of notable 
work alone: the lines of well-considered innova- 



tion and material progress there is no reason 
whatever to doubt. "Ambitious as I am to be 
governor of this great state," said Mr. Sproul 
in a pre-election address, "and anxious as I am 
to work out some of the plans I have developed 
in a long study of the Commonw-ealth's affairs, 
I cannot and will not be a factional governor, 
nor would I be a candidate on such a platform. 
The governorship of Pennsylvania is a great 
office ; the opportunities for real service it 
offers should be an inspiration to any citizen." 
These were the sentiments of Senator Sproul 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



355 



before the electors of the Keystone State 
stamped, by their votes, approval of his candi- 
dacy, and these, and other lofty sentiments 
akin to them, are the lode star and the aspira- 
tion of the Governor Sproul of today. 

Governor Sproul was born in Octararo, Lan- 
caster County, Pennsylvania, September 16, 
1870, and is son of William Hall and Deborah 
Dickinson (Slokom) Sproul. ]lis g-randfather. 
Squire Samuel Slokom, was chairman of the 
Republican County Executive Committee for 
twelve years, so that he has the presentige of 
stalwart Republican ancestry. Mis' middle 
name was given him in honor of General Simon 
Cameron, for years the potential leader of the 
Republican organization and an important 
figure in national politics of Pennsylvania. 
Governor Sproul's father was an officer of the 
Iron Clififs Company, and eight years of the 
governor's early boyhood were spent in the 
busy little city of Negaunee, where the fur- 
naces and the general offices of the corporation 
were located. An uncle by marriage. Thomas 
J. Houston, also lived there and was a com- 
manding figure in the community. His energy 
and ability set a fine example for the lad, and 
Governor Sproul has often said that the 
patience of his father, of his grandfather and 
his Uncle Thomas in answering questions was 
l)eyond belief. 

After receiving instruction at private schools, 
part of which time was spent in the schools 
at Christiana, Lancaster County, young Sproul 
entered the high school at Chester in 1883. He 
could have been graduated from that institu- 
tion at sixteen, but preferred to stay with the 
old class and he qualified as a teacher in 1887. 
In that year he entered Swarthmore College — 
from which he graduated in 1891, with the 
Degree of Bachelor of Science — and was as- 
signed to room with an old friend with whom 
he had gone to school at Christiana, Maurice 
J. Brinton, now a leading business man of 
Lancaster County. Pretty soon, however, 
Brinton left college and two outstanding fig- 
ures in Pennsylvania politics today found 
themselves sharing the same room — William 
Cameron Sproul and Alexander Mitchell 



Palmer, the latter Democratic National Com- 
mitteeman from Pennsylvania and Custodian 
of Alien Property during the war between the 
United States and Germany. 

Governor Sproul married when he was 
twenty-one years old, wedding Miss' Elenora 
Wallace Roach, a daughter of John B. Roach, 
shipbuilder, and granddaughter of John Roach, 
founder of the shipl)uilding business in Chester 
and who has been reverently referred to bv 
many conspicuous officers in the service of 
Uncle Sam as "the father" of the United States 
Xavy. Mrs. Sproul's lineage, as' is the case 
with the governor, is distinguished. Her 
great-great-great-grandfather was John Pauld- 
ing, who was one of the captors of the un- 
fortunate Major Andre, of the English army, in 
the Revolutionary War. On her mother's side 
she is descended from a prominent Colonial 
family from Dutchess County, New York. She 
is a member of the Colonial Dames', the Daugh- 
ters of the Revolution and other such organiza- 
tions, but sets more store by what she, her 
husband and their children do than in the 
achievements of her ancestors, honorable as 
they were. 

Governor and i\Irs. Sproul have two chil- 
dren. John Roach Sproul was born January 
30, 1895. He followed his father to Chester 
High School, finished his preparation at Mer- 
cersburg and then entered Swarthmore Col- 
lege, where he was not only a good student 
but came to the front in all college activities. 
He was a star in baseball and in basketball 
and was about to start upon his business career 
when the call of his country took him to the 
first Fort Niagara Camp, where he won a com- 
mission as second lieutenant and was chosen 
for the regular army. He was promoted to a 
first lieutenancy in October, 1917, and went to 
France that winter. There he was very active 
in the early fighting done by American forces, 
taking v>art in the second battle of the Marne, 
where he was signal officer. He was gassed 
later on, but on his recovery went again to the 
front where he distinguished himself and was 
cited for bravery. 

(lovernor Sproul's daughter, Dorothy, was 



356 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



married October 7, 1914, to Henry J. Klaer, son 
of Judge Jacob Klaer. of Milford, Pike County, 
where his family is prominent. He prepared 
at Blairstown Academy and was graduated 
from the University of Pennsylvania, quickly 
winning distinction as a chemical engineer. 
Filling positions of a responsible kind in the 
steel industry he came to the front rapidly and 
at the time of his death in 1918 was' vice-presi- 
dent of the Penn Seaboard Steel Corporation, 
witli everv promise of a brilliant future. He 
was captain of Company 7, First Regiment 
Pennsylvania Reserve Militia, which paid him 
final honors in firing a salute over his grave. 
He took an active part in all public movements 
in Delaware County. 

The future Governor drifted into a practical 
newspaper life following his boyhood experi- 
ence in amateur journalism and his activities 
as a correspondent for metropolitan journals 
during his later college days. In March of 1892 
an opportunity came to acquire a half interest 
in the Chester Times and thus began his ])art- 
nership with his old preceptor. John A. Wal- 
lace, which lasted until the latter's death. For 
several years Governor Sproul gave undivided 
attention to the newspaper, becoming familiar 
with every phase of the business, and devoting 
to it direct editorial and business care. The 
Times became very successful and is one of 
the best-looking and most prosperous dailies 
in the state. About ten years ago the Morning 
Republican, an old-established journal wdiich 
had become a daily, was purchased, and is 
pul)lished as a morning edition, with the Times 
appearing in the evening. 

Governor Sproul entered politics early in 
life and was elected in 1896 to the Senate of 
Pennsylvania by the Republicans of the Ninth 
Senatorial District. The trust thus reposed in 
him was renewed on the occasion of every elec- 
tion up to that preceding his election as gov- 
ernor, and in that time he was a member of 
the most important committees of the Senate, 
as well as of several state commissions. In 
entering the Legislature he simply followed in 
the footsteps of his ancestor, Nicholas Newlin, 
friend of William Penn, who was' a member of 



the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly, and in 
those of the great grandsons of this Newlin, 
who represented in the State Senate the same 
district that Mr. Sproul did. In 1893 he was 
elected president pro tem of the Senate, and 
he presided over that body in the session of 
1905. He has ever since been a leader and has 
helped to shape all of the important legislation 
that has been enacted during that period. He 
has upon more than one occasion evinced a 
disposition to act independently of the wishes 
of recognized leaders and the impress of his 
personality upon the party organization is 
found not only in his home district l)ut in the 
state at large. 

Author of the Sproul Road Bill, passed by 
the Legislature in 1903. under which a compre- 
hensive system of road improvement has been 
inaugurated in Pennsylvania. His Legislative 
career has shown a consistent sympathy with 
all movements tending to improve conditions 
for farmers. A\ ith him the idea that the farmer 
is too heavily taxed amounts almost to an ob- 
session. He has worked long and earnestly to 
efl^ect what he considers just and proper 
changes in the way the farmer shall be taxed. 
He has been entirely sound on all farm legisla- 
tion, and he was largely instrumental in hav- 
ing established the Bureau of Markets in this 
state, which does such excellent practical work 
in making easier and more profitable the mar- 
keting of farm products. 

Some years ago Frederic W\ Fleitz. of 
Scranton. a Tioga County farm lad. former 
Deputy Attorney General, who lived at the 
Harrisburg Club with Senator Sproul. con- 
vinced the latter that the fruit industry in 
Pennsylvania should be developed and that not 
only w^ould a good object be served for the 
people of the state, but a good business could 
be built up in raising fruit. Fleitz had given 
the matter much study and had the plan thor- 
oughly mapped out, so three splendid farms on 
the shale hills back of Mechanicsburg, Cum- 
berland County, were acquired as a starter. 
The firm of Fleitz & Sproul, fruit growers, was' 
organized and operations began. Since that 
time a tract along: the north branch of the 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



357 



Susquelianna at X'oshuri^, in WyDiniiiij;' County, 
has been acquired, and the John G. ArdTenry 
place, a s]:)lendid tract, at Benton, CoUnnbia 
County, has l)een added to the enterprise. All 
in all the firm has 2000 acres of the best of 
Pennsylvania lands and over 100,000 fruit 
trees have been planted, besides other small 
fruits and ordinary crops. 

For four generations the Sprouls have been 
iron masters and it logically followed that the 
present governor of Pennsylvania would be 
identified with these and kindred interests. In 
1898 he was elected vice-president of Roach's 
Shipyard, and organized, in 1900, the Seaboard 
Steel Casting Company of Chester, of which 
he was the president. He also organized the 
Chester Shipping Company, of which he was 
president, in 1900. He became interested in 
coal and timber properties in West Virginia in 
1901, and has since given much attention to 
these and railroad interests in that state. He 
was president of the Coal River Railway of 
W'est Virginia, the Camden Interstate Railway 
of West Virginia. Kentucky and Ohio ; Kana- 
wha Valley Traction Company, Charleston and 
Southside Bridge Company, and the Spruce 
River Coal Land Company ; treasurer of the 
Kanawha Bridge and Terminal Company ; di- 
rector of the Commercial Trust Company of 
Philadelphia, Delaware County Trust Com- 
pany of Chester, of the First National Bank, 
and of the Delaware County National Bank of 
Chester. 

In March. 1907, Governor Sproul gave Swarth- 
niore College funds for building and equipping 
an observatory to contain one of the largest 
telescopes in the world. In religion he is a 
member of the Religious Society of Friends. 
He was and in some cases still is a member of 
the Pennsylvania Historical Society ; trustee of 
Swarthmore College ; trustee of the Pennsyl- 
vania Training School for Feeble-Minded Chil- 
dren ; member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, 
Book and Key Society, Masonic fraternity, 
Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and Pa- 
trons of Husbandry. His favorite recreations 
are shooting and fishing. He is a member of 
the Union League, Philadelphia, of which he 



was president ; University, Corinthian Yacht, 
and Pen and Pencil Clubs of Philadelphia ; 
Manhattan and Engineers' Clubs', of New 
York; Penn Cluli, of Chester; Harrisburg 
Club, Rose Tree Fox Hunting, and Spring- 
haven County Clubs. Lapidea Manor, the 
home of the Sprouls, is just outside Chester, in 
Nether Providence Township, Delaware 
County. It is one of the most interesting as 
well as one of the most 1)cautiful homesteads 
in the country. 

gFFINGHAM BUCKLEY MORRIS, law- 
yer and banker, Philadelphia, was l)orn in 
the Quaker City August 23, 1856, and is son 
of Israel Wister and Annie (Buckley) Morris". 
He graduated from the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, with the Degree of Bachelor or Arts, in 
1875, and secured the Degree of Master of Arts 
in 1878, and that of Bachelor of Laws in the 
same year. 

Mr. ]\Iorris was general attorney of the 
Lehigh Valley Railroad Company from 1880 to 
1887, and of the Girard Trust Company from 
1883 to 1887. In the latter year he was elected 
president of that company, and still continues 
to hold office. He has been a director since 
1896 of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company ; 
Philadelphia National Bank; Fourth Street 
National Bank; Franklin National Bank; 
Philadelphia Saving Fund Society ; Pennsyl- 
vania Fire Insurance Company ; chairman 
Pennsylvania Steel Company since 1901 ; chair- 
man Cambria Steel Company since 1901 ; di- 
rector Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. 
Louis Railroad and allied lines of Pennsylvania 
Railroad. He is also trustee for bond holders 
Philadelphia City Bonds secured on Gas 
Works', 1882-1887; trustee of the estate of 
Anthony J. Drexel (deceased) and other es- 
tates ; director in sundry other manufacturing 
corporations. 

Mr. ]\Iorris was married in Philadeli)hia, 
November 5, 1879, to Ellen Douglas Bur- 
roughs ; children, Mrs. George Clymer Brooke, 
Mrs. Stacy B. Lloyd, Mrs. John Frederic 
Byers, Ef^ngham B.. Jr. In politics he is an 
Indei)endent Re])ublican. 



358 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




SAMUEL T. BODINE 



'TTHE presidency of the United Gas improve- 
ment Company, one of the richest and most 
powerful corporations in the United States. 
whose interests and business activities are 
almost co-extensive with the principal outlines 
of the Republic, demands a rare combination 
of ability of a high order, sterling integrity. 



keen business insight, sound judgment and the 
faculty of reaching correct conclusions on 
serious and intricate problems within, approxi- 
matel}-, the shortest space of time. 

Such a combination Samuel Taylor Bodine, 
president of the great corporation, possesses 
to an eminent degree. Chosen its secretary 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



359 



?nd treasurer, when the company was organ- 
ized in 1882. he has devoted all his energies 
and life work to it since, and when, in March, 
1912. he succeeded to the important office so 
long and ably held by Mr. Thomas Dolan, his 
elevation to the presidency was but the logical 
result and reward of faithful service and of 
^vork well done. 

Mr. Bodine was born in Philadelphia. Au- 
gust 23, 1854. Son of Samuel Tucker Bodine, 
he is of French lineage, being descended in the 
male line from the Le Bandains wdio flourished 
in Cambray. France, from the twelfth to the 
seventeenth century. A member of this 
family emigrated to England in 1645, and in 
the early part of the eighteenth century an- 
other member, who bore the Anglicized name 
of Bodine, settled down in Staten Island, New 
York, and afterwards in Middlesex County, 
New Jersey, and became the founder of the 
American branch. His son, Francis, was the 
father of John Bodine, who was Samuel Taylor 
Bodine's grandfather, and who, during the 
American revolution, served for six years in 
the patriot ranks and winning the rank of 
captain. 

Samuel Tucker Bodine, father of the subject 
of this sketch, was of much prominence in the 
affairs of the Philadelphia of his day. He filled 
the office of Mayor of Kensington, anterior to 
its amalgamation with the city ; was a director 
of the Pennsylvania Railroad ; was manager of 
the Presbyterian Board of Publication and was 
esteemed as a man of sterling character and of 
public usefulness. He married Louisa Wyle 
-Milliken, a daughter of William Milliken and 
Marta Orr, both members of leading families 
of Philadelphia. 

Samuel Taylor Bodine's preparatory educa- 
tion was received at the Germantown Acad- 
emy. Later he entered the University and 
after a studious course graduated in 1873, in 
his nineteenth year. Three years later the Uni- 
versity conferred upon him the Degree of 
Master of Arts. Soon after his graduation Mr. 
Bodine began his business career as shipping 
clerk for the Royersford Iron Foundry Com- 
pany, at Royersford, Pennsylvania. Two years 



later he accepted a similar position with the 
Cohansey Glass' Company, Bridgeton, New 
Jersey. 

In 1876 Mr. Bodine entered the employ of 
Peter Wright and Sons, of Philadelphia, taking 
charge of the commercial side of the engineer- 
ing department and repair shops of the Ameri- 
can Red Star line of steamships. Here he con- 
tinued until June, 1882, when the United Gas 
Improvement Company was organized and he 
became its secretary and treasurer. This posi- 
tion afforded him a peculiar opportunity for 
the development of his' best energies and latent 
talent and so prominently were both identified 
with the success of the corporation that its 
management, in recognition of his services, 
appointed him, in 1888, general manager. 

In 1892 he was elected second vice-president, 
and two years later was promoted to the first 
vice-presidency. In both positions he still 
continued to discharge the duties of general 
manager, and to his initiative, as such, were 
largely due the surprising advance of the cor- 
poration as a business institution and the much 
better service which it was enabled to give to 
the public. His succession to the presidency, 
on the retirement of Mr. Dolan, became a fore- 
gone conclusion ; and he now occupies it with 
added credit to himself, with added benefit to 
the Corporation and with daily increasing ben- 
efit to the city and citizens of Philadelphia. 

With business capacity so large and busi- 
ness acumen so keen ^Ir. Bodine naturally has 
interests other than those of the great commer- 
cial organization of which he is the head. Pie 
is a director of the Franklin National Bank, of 
the Pennsylvania Company for Insurances on 
Lives and Granting Annuities and of the Fidel- 
ity Trust Company. He is also a trustee of 
the Academy of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church in Philadelphia; and his deep interest 
in the question of education has found sub- 
stantial evidence in the gift of the Bodine dor- 
mitory to the University of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Bodine is a member of the Presbyterian 
Church, and is also a member of various soci- 
eties and social organizations. His clubs 
include the Sons of the Revolution, the Ritten- 



360 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



house, the University. Phihidelphia ; the Uni- 
versity Club, New York the Germantown 
Cricket Club and the Merion Cricket Club, 
of which he is a member of the board of gov- 
ernors. 

Mr. Bodine was married November 15, 1883, 
to Eleanor Gray Warden, daughter of the late 
William G. Warden, and has three children — a 
son and two daughters. His domestic life, like 
his business career, has been signally success'- 
ful so far as the essentials of happiness and 
the esteem of a host of friends are concerned ; 
and he stands out prominently today as one of 
the most respected and beloved citizens of the 
Philadelphia of his birth, of his life work and 
of his great and monumental success. 



CHARLES STUART WOOD PACKARD 

PRESIDENT since 1899 of the Pennsylvania 
Company for Insurance of Lives and 
Granting Annuities, Charles Stuart Wood 
Packard stands a commanding figure in the 
financial world of Philadelphia. Nor is this 
position due to the accident of birth, or envi- 
ronment. While he comes of a prominent and 
highly esteemed family, and while all the asso- 
ciations of his youth and mature years were of 
the highest, the responsible office which he holds 
today and upon which he reflects the great- 
est credit, was achieved solely liy hard work, 
experience, high personal character and tal- 
ents of exceptional scope and more than ordi- 
nary ability. These have been his character- 
istics throughout a somewhat strenuous and 
ever useful life, and to these are due the re- 
spect and esteem attached to his personality 
and to his name today. 

Mr. Packard was born in Philadelphia, June 
21, 18G0. His father was Dr. Hooker Packard, 
a distinguished physician and his mother, 
Elizabeth Wood, member of a prominent and 
most estimable family. His early education 
was acquired in Rugby Academy, from which 
he entered the Universitv of Pennsvlvania the 



class of 1880, and was graduated with the de- 
gree of Bachelor of Science. From 1878 to 
1880 he was employed in the office of Peter 
Wright and Sons, shipping agents, where he 
gained a vast amount of experience, and in 
1883 became secretary of the Philadelphia 
Warehouse Company and occupied this posi- 
tion for four years. By this time he had es- 
tablished such an excellent business reputation 
that in 1887 he was selected by the W^ashing- 
ton Manufacturing Company as its treasurer, 
and for five years discharged ably and well the 
duties incidental to that office. 

In 1892 Mr. Packard was appointed auditor 
of the Pennsylvania Company for Insurance 
on Lives and Granting Annuities. The follow- 
ing year he was chosen treasurer of the com- 
pany. This position he held until 1899, when 
his ability and worth won recognition by his 
election to the presidency of that great institu- 
tion. But his activities do not end with con- 
trol of that institution. He has been, besides, 
director of the Franklin National Bank, of the 
Fourth Street National Bank, of the Farmers' 
and Mechanics' Bank and of the Philadelphia 
Saving Fund Society. He is also a director of 
the Philadelphia Warehouse Company, of the 
Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insur- 
ance of Houses from Loss by Fire, of the 
Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company, of 
the Westmoreland Coal Company, of the In- 
surance Company of North America, and is 
trustee of the Episcopal Hospital and of the 
Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company. He is 
a member of the Delta Psi fraternity and di- 
rector and formerly treasurer of the University 
Athletic Association. His clubs are the Rit- 
tenhouse, the Philadelphia Country, St. An- 
thony's and Racquet. 

^Ir. Packard was married in 1882, in Phila- 
delphia, to Eliza Gilpin McLean, a daughter of 
Samuel McLean, who died in 1900, and has 
one son. John Hooker, 3rd., captain in the U. 
S. Army. His residence is 1830 South Ritten- 
house Square, Philadelphia, and his office ad- 
dress 517 Chestnut Street, Philadeli)hia. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



361 




ALBA B. JOHNSON 



TPIIE fame of the Baldwin Locomotive Works 
is world wide. Started in Philadelphia in 
1831 by Matthias \\\ Baldwin, and with various 
chang-es from time to time in the firm name 
and personnel of its partners, the business con- 
tinued without interruption since, and now rep- 
resents the greatest and most complete indus- 
trial enterprise of its character in the world, 
with a steadily increasing trade with practi- 
cally every country on the globe. 

Its plant in the Fifteenth Ward of Philadel- 
phia covers over sixteen acres. Its foundries 
and shops at Eddystone, Pa., cover a tract of 
225 acres, while in East Chicago. 111., 370 acres 



cover the extent of its future operations there. 
About forty-eight locomotives per week are its 
output, and to turn out these a regular army of 
workers is employed. 

As president of this great industrial con- 
cern. Alba B. Johnson's whole life career has 
been interesting and insi)!ring. and from the 
moment, }ears ago. w lien he registered at 
r.aldwin's in almost the humblest cai)acity, 
until his recent retirement as its head, indus- 
trv, zeal, faithfulness and ambition have been 
his incentive, his guide and his inspiration. 

Mr. Johnson was born in the home of indus- 
trv — Pittsburgh, Pa. — on Febuarv 8, 1858. His 



362 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



father was Samuel Adams Johnson, and his 
mother Alma Sarah Kemp Johnson, and on 
both sides his ancestry was English. 

The family of Johnson, of which the subject 
of this sketch is the representative, was long 
identified with New England, being descend- 
ants of Lieutenant Timothy Johnson, a Colo- 
nial soldier of excellent record, who settled in 
Massachusetts in 1677. 

Mr. Johnson's father, Samuel A. Johnson, 
was one of the pioneers in the development of 
the oil fields of western Pennsylvania, but a 
destructive fire wrecked his properties and dis- 
pelled his well-grounded hope of wealth. After 
this disaster he came to Philadelphia, where he 
accepted a position as superintendent of a 
refinery owned and operated by Logan Broth- 
ers, and later on a foreman in the Baldwin 
Locomotive Works. 

His son, Alba B. Johnson, received his early 
education in the public schools of Philadelphia, 
and then entered the High School, from which 
he graduated in 1876 with the degree of A. B. 

Twenty-seven years later, that is, in 1909, 
this distinction was supplemented by the degree 
of LL. D., conferred upon him by Ursinus Col- 
lege, Pa. In May, 1877, Mr. Johnson began his 
life career by entering the employment of the 
Baldwin Locomotive Works, then owned by 
the firm of Burnham, Perry, Williams & Co., 
as a junior clerk. A year afterward he went 
to the Edgemoor Iron Works, at Wilmington, 
Del., where he acquired a valuable experience 
of two years. He then returned to the great 
plant in Philadelphia, with which he has been 
associated ever since. 

He was steadily advanced from one position 
of responsibility to another, and when, in 1896, 
the firm of Burnham, Williams & Co. suc- 
ceeded to the business he was admitted to part- 
nership. In 1909 the concern was incorporated 
as the Baldwin Locomotive Works, and in 
July of that year he was elected vice-president 
and treasurer. In 1911 he was made president 
of the mammoth industry, and as such now 
directs and controls it. 

But the field of his activities is not circum- 
scribed by the environments of the great plant. 



He is director of the Philadelphia Federal 
Reserve Bank, president of the Standard Steel 
Works, vice-president of the Philadelphia 
Chamber of Commerce, member of the New 
York Chamber of Commerce and trustee of the 
Jefiferson Medical College, Philadelphia. 

He is also active in the work of many sci- 
entific and social organizations, and is a mem- 
ber of the American Philosophical Society and 
the American Academy of Political and Social 
Science of Philadelphia. 

The interests of the Young Men's Christian 
Association also claim his attention, and of 
that well-known institution he is an active 
director. 

His clubs are the Union League, City and 
Manufacturers' clubs, of Philadelphia, and the 
Merion Cricket Club, of Haverford, Pa. ; the 
Gulf Mills Golf Club, and the Railroad, of New 
York. 

In politics Mr. Johnson is a Republican, and 
in religion a Presbyterian. In 1883 he was 
married to Elizabeth T. Reeves, who died in 
1908, and in 1910 he was married to Miss Leah 
Gofif, of Philadelphia. His residence is at 
Rosemont, Philadelphia, his business address 
being the Baldwin Locomotive Works, Phila- 
delphia. 



TAMES RUTHERFORD McALLISTER, 
banker, was born in Philadelphia in 1863. 
He was educated in the public schools and at 
an early age entered the employ of the First 
National Bank of Philadelphia, and passed 
through various grades of promotion until ap- 
pointed paying teller. He resigned that posi- 
tion to enter the services of Corn Exchange 
National Bank as assistant cashier, later be- 
coming cashier. Upon organization of the 
Franklin National Bank in 1900 he became its 
cashier, and since 1904 has been its president. 
Director Commercial Trust Company, Guar- 
antee Company of North America, Philadel- 
phia P^lectric Company. Residence, Seminole 
and Hartwell Streets, Chestnut Hill. Office, 
b>anklin National Bank, Pliiladelphia. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



363 




JOHN ADAM RIGG 



"PRUM the comparatively humble position of 
street car conductor to the envial)le one of 
president, or director of over two-score rail- 
way companies represents the active career of 
John Adam Rigg. now one of the foremost 
residents of Philadelphia, as he is undoubtedly 
one of the most respected and esteemed. 

Son of Samuel Evan Rigg, a Lancaster 
County farmer, he was born in that county on 



h\'l)ruarv 14, 1834, and received his education 
in the i)ublic schools. .\t an early age he left 
the i)arental home to begin what was then, as 
it is now, a strenuous life. Settling down in 
Reading. Pa., he learned the trade of iron 
puddler and incidentally became interested in 
the street railway business of which in later 
years, he made a most remarkable success, and 
in which he was destined to receive high office 



364 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



and correspondingly high honor and emoki- 
ment. 

Beginning at the very foot of the ladder, that 
is to sav as conductor, he became associated 
with the transit system in Reading and so 
quickly and so well did he master all its de- 
tails that in 1874 he was' appointed to the 
highly responsible and exacting position of 
superintendent. In that capacity he continued 
with the Reading City Passenger Railway 
Company until 1892, when he became general 
manager of the People's Passenger Railway 
Company of Philadelphia. 

While occupying this position Mr. Rigg had 
the development of the transit facilities that 
existed in Reading still in mind, and realizing 
the great future which lay ahead of a system 
based upon progress and all the modern re- 
quirements which true progress entails and 
demands, he organized the Reading Traction 
Company, which leased and consolidated the 
existing street railways of the city. He also 
organized the Metropolitan Electric Company, 
which manages the Reading Electric Light, 
Heat and Power Company, and the Neversink 
Electric Light, Heat and Power Company, 
controlling the electric lighting of Reading. 
Mr. Rigg was also one of the prime movers in 
the organization of the United Power and 
Transportation Company, which controls the 
street car railways of over a dozen cities in 
Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey. 

The vast number of interests with which 
Mr. Rigg is actively connected and the amount 
of physical work and mental strain which such 
connection involves can be thoroughly appre- 
ciated by a glance at the almost astounding 
number of corporations that include his name 
either as president or director. 

To begin, he is both president and director 
of the Gordon Heights Railway Company, the 
Mercer County Traction, the Trenton, Hamil- 
ton and Ewing Traction, the Trenton, Penn- 
ington and Hopewell Street Railway, the 
Trenton Traction, the Union Railway Com- 
pany of Chester, the Wilmington City Elec- 
tric, the Wilmington City Railway, the Wil- 
mington and Chester Traction, the Wilkes- 



r>arre, Dallas and Harvey's Lake Railway, and 
the Wilkes-Barre and Wyoming Valley Trac- 
tion. 

Mr. Rigg is also president of the United 
Power and Transportation Company, of the 
Interstate Railway Company, of the Chester 
Traction, of the Philadelphia Electric, and of 
the Front and Union Streets Railway and the 
companies of which he is a director are the 
Real Estate Title and Trust Company of 
Philadelphia, the Lebanon Valley Street Rail- 
way, the Media, Glen Riddle and Rockdale 
Electric Street Railway, the Nanticoke Street 
Railway, the Pittston and Avoca Street Rail- 
way, the Pittston, Moosic and Pleasant Valley 
Street Railway, the Pittston Street Car Com- 
pany, the Plymouth Bridge Company, the 
Plymouth Street Railway, the Plymouth and 
Wilkes-Barre Turnpike, the Reading Traction, 
the Reading and Womelsdorf Electric Rail- 
way, the Roxboro, Chestnut Hill and Norris- 
town Railway, the Schuylkill Valley Traction, 
the Trappe and Limerick Electric Street Rail- 
way, the Wilmington and Edgemoor Electric 
Railway, the Wilmington and Great Valley 
Turnpike, the W>st Pittston and Wyoming 
Street Railway, the Wilkes-Barre and Kings- 
ton Passenger Railway, the Wilkes-Barre and 
Plains Street Railway, the Wilkes-Barre and 
Suburban Street Railway, and the Wilkes- 
Barre and West Side Railway. 

With such vast and varied interests demand- 
ing his attention Mr. Rigg is necessarily a 
busy man, in the broadest acceptation of that 
popular term, yet he finds time to interest him- 
self in a large measure with Alasonic and Odd 
Fellow societies of which he is a member. 

His only club is the Wyomissing, and auto- 
mobile riding his' chief relaxation. Mr. Rigg 
was married in December, 1872, to Sallie A. 
Baum, and is the father of Dr. Walter A. Rigg 
and Dr. Samuel B. Rigg. both noted phy- 
sicians. 

In politics he is a staunch Republican and in 
religion a Lutheran. His residence address is 
220 South Fifth Street, Reading, Pa., and his 
business address 630 Widener Building, Phila- 
delphia. 



Tllli STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



3(k-> 




WILLIAM RAMSEY NICHOLSON 

W7ILLIAM RAMSEY NICHOLSON, presi- 
dent of the Land Title and Trust Company, 
is among-st the foremost financiers as well as 
the foremost citizens of his native Philadel- 
phia. Born in the Quaker City June 25, 1851, 
he represents the fourth generation of his fam- 
ily associated with it, and naturally feels a 
laudable pride in its progress and a deep and 
absorljing interest in its civic government and 
material well-being. Mr. Nicholson's father 
was Thomas Nicholson, also a prominent and 
highly esteemed citizen in his day, while his 
mother before her marriage was Ann McCon- 
nell. He received his' earlier education in the 
primary public schools, and later attended the 
Central High School, from which he graduated 
with honors. 

At the age of seventeen he entered the law 
office of William Nelson West, who was City 
Solicitor from 1879 to 1884. Here his natural 
ability, application to business and a faculty of 



mastering details soon became evident, and in 
a comparatively short time was recognized and 
(.mphasized by his being taken into partnership 
b\ Mr. West, whose practice, already firmly 
established, was steadily growing day after 
day. 

In ISSO Mr. Nicholson became associated 
with iM-ederick L. Michaelson and John M. 
I'.ricksdii in the real estate business. The oper- 
ations of this firm, especially in West Philadel- 
])hia, were most extensive, and in the course of 
his activities he was brought into intimate 
relationship with P. A. B. Widcner, the great 
street railway magnate and financier, who 
considered him a man of exceptionally clear 
judgment and sound practical common sense. 

In 1885 Mr. Nicholson Avas elected a director 
of the l.and l^itle and Trust Company, which 
was established in that year. Five years later 
he was elected president of the West Philadel- 
l)hia Title and Trust Company. This position 
he held for a year, but resigned when, in 1891, 
he was elected president of the Land Title and 
Trust Company. Since his incumbency of this 
high and responsible position the business of 
the corporation has wonderfully increased, 
l^his is due, in a large measure, to two impor- 
tant factors or facts. The first and most essen- 
tial is that Mr. Nicholson brings to the dis- 
charge of his duties an agreeable personality 
and a wonderful business acumen, and the next 
is that he has surrounded himself and is sup- 
ported by a stafif of officials who represent effi- 
ciency to the last degree. Competence is the 
password to promotion with Mr. Nicholson, 
who invariably impresses upon even the least 
of the corporation's employees that the high- 
est positions at its disposal are the reward of 
efficiency, and of efficiency alone. 

Mr. Nicholson has always had a keen and 
])ractical interest in civic government and 
municipal reform. In 1917, at much personal 
sacrifice, he decided to run on the reform ticket 
for city treasurer. In this case the office vir- 
tually sought the man. Mr. Nicholson was the 
unanimous choice of the reform leaders, who 
represented the Town ^Meeting party. They 
needed the strongest and most popular candi- 



366 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



date available, and these necessary qualifica- 
tions being paramount in Mr. Nicholson, the 
eyes of the party chiefs instinctively turned 
towards him. 

A strict sense of public duty alone compelled 
Mr. Nicholson to accept the nomination thus 
tendered, which he did on the distinct under- 
standing that if elected he would turn over to 
the Y. M. C. A. War Council the fees and com- 
missions which all preceding city treasurers 
had regarded as their own. Mr. Nicholson and 
his colleagues on the ticket for municipal office 
received over 100,000 votes, and the vote they 
polled was so large and so close to the winning 
vote that the claim was made that a jugglery of 
the ballot-boxes was alone responsible for the 
apparent victory of their opponents, who rep- 
resented the dominant faction in the politics of 
Philadelphia. 

Mr. Nicholson is closely identified with reli- 
gious work. He was the manager and active 
leader in the campaign to raise $1,000,000 for 
the Philadelphia Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation. When it was proposed that William 
Sunday, the noted evangelist, conduct a series 
of revival meetings in the Quaker City Mr. 
Nicholson was one of the first prominent and 
influential men to carry the proposal into efifect. 
Not only did he do this, but he devoted him- 
self vigorously to the campaign, contributing 
most materially to its success and serving ac- 
tively and continuously as chairman of the 
finance committee. 

He was one of the City Club members who 
fought the sale of intoxicating liquors in that 
institution and succeeded in having it banished. 
Mr. Nicholson's business activities are by no 
means limited to the Land Title and Trust 
Company, of which he is president. He is 
also president and director of the Philadelphia 
Company for Guaranteeing Mortgages, and is 
a director of the West Philadelphia Title and 
Trust Company, the Fourth Street National 
Bank, the Girard Fire Insurance Company, the 
American Surety Company of New York, the 
Pittsburgh and West Virginia Railroad Com- 
pany, the Omaha Water Company and the 
Haverford Development Company. 



Furthermore, he is president and director of 
the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Building 
Company and member of the Clearing House 
Committee of the Philadelphia Clearing House. 

Mr. Nicholson's clubs are the City Club, of 
which he is vice-president, and the Union 
League. 

His residence address is 2415 Bryn Mawr 
Avenue, Philadelphia, and his office address, 
Land Title and Trust Building, Philadelphia. 

pEORGE KNOVE JOHNSON, president of 
the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company, 
was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, De- 
cember 11, 1848, of Quaker parentage. He was 
educated in the Friends' Academy and at the 
Friends' Central School in Philadelphia, from 
which latter institution he was graduated in 
1866. He began his business career as a clerk 
in a Philadelphia manufacturing house, and in 
1880 started in business for himself as a mem- 
ber of the firm of Belknap, Johnson & Powell, 
manufacturers of umbrellas, which became the 
largest concern in that trade in the United 
States'. Mr. Johnson became a member of the 
Board of Trustees of The Penn Mutual Life 
Insurance Company, many years ago, was 
elected vice-president of the company in April, 
1897, and continued in that office until the 
death of Mr. Harry F. West, when he suc- 
ceeded him in the presidency of that company, 
in which office he continues. 

Mr. Johnson is a director of the Camden 
(New Jersey) National Bank, and a trustee of 
many large estates. He is also a director of 
the Public Service Corporation and of the 
Electric Light Company. He is a Republican 
in politics, and in religion is a member of the 
Society of Friends. He also holds membership 
in the Union League, Philadelphia, the His- 
torical Society of Pennsylvania ; National Geo- 
graphic Society, American Academy of Po- 
litical and Social Science, Burd Industrial 
School, and other minor institutions. He was 
married in Camden, New Jersey, October 1, 
1873, to Sarah Cooper, and has two children. 
Residence, Langhorne, Bucks County. Office, 
921 Chestnut Street. Philadelphia. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



T^bl 




DR. EDGAR FAHS SMITH 



T^HE place of first importance which the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania occupies among the 
great institutions of learning which are the 
pres'ent-day forces in the educational world has 
been won largely as the result of loyal devotion 
of and the wnde influence exerted by the suc- 
cession of men of strong personality and high 
scholarly attainments who have been the heads 
of its various departments. 

The Chemical Department of the University 
has for many years been in charge of Dr. Edgar 
Fahs Smith, under whose leadership it has 
become one of the country's most prominent 
schools in this branch of scientific learning. 



numbering among its graduates many men 
who have attained eminence as teachers of 
chemistry in the leading schools and colleges 
of the United States or as chemical experts" in 
various other fields of endeavor. Dr. Smith 
has developed many lines of research, but is 
best known for his work in the department of 
electro-chemistry, especially wnth the applica- 
tion of electricity to analytical chemistry. His 
first published article relative to this subject 
appeared in 1879, since which time his writings 
have been voluminous and far reaching in 
efi'ect. and include "Electro-Chemical Analy- 
sis." which, translated into German, French 



368 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



and Chinese, is recognized throughout the 
world as an authoritative work on this branch 
of chemistry. 

The methods he has established for the 
determination of metals in an electrolytic way 
have been found to be uniformly accurate. He 
has made notable researches upon molybdenum 
and tungsten, and has published altogether 
about two hundred papers, embodying the 
results of his investigations in electro-chem- 
istry, in organic, inorganic and analytical chem- 
istry and the composition of minerals. 

Dr. Smith is one of the most highly esteemed 
men connected wnth the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, iiis duties as Provost bring him in 
close toacli with the members of the faculty 
and the administrative officers, and he makes 
it a practice to maintain an equally close per- 
sonal relationship with the whole student body. 
His office is always open to students seeking 
counsel, and it is his custom to attend many 
of the student meetings. Greatly interested in 
the athletics of the University, he has accom- 
plished much for the elevation of college sports. 
Pie is also very popular with the Alumni, and 
is often called upon to address Alumni gath- 
erings. 

Edgar Fahs Smith was born at York, Penn- 
sylvania, May 23, 1856. His preparatory edu- 
cation was obtained at the York County Acad- 
emy, in which he afterward taught. Entering 
the Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, Penn- 
sylvania, in 1872, he was graduated therefrom 
in 1874 with the degree of B. S. He then went 
abroad and entered the University of Goettin- 
gen. Germany, where for two years he studied 
chemistry under Woehler and Huebner, and 
mineralogy under Von Waltershausen, receiv- 
ing his Doctor's degree in 1876. 

Returning to America in the autumn of the 
last-mentioned year, he accepted the position 
of Assistant in Analytical Chemistry to Pro- 
fessor F. A. Guenth, of the Towne Scientific 
School of the University of Pennsylvania. In 
this capacity he continued until 1881, when he 
became Asa Packer Professor of Chemistry at 
Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pennsylvania. 
In 1883 he went to Springfield, Ohio, as Pro- 



fessor of Chemistry in Wittenburg College, and 
remained until 1888. in which year he returned 
to the University of Pennsylvania as Professor 
of Analytical Chemistry. In 1892 the Depart- 
ment of Organic and Industrial Chemistry was 
reorganized and placed in charge of Dr. Smith. 
He was chosen Vice-Provost of the University 
in 1899, but still retained the Chair of Chem- 
istry. 

In 1899 the honorary degree of Sc. D. was 
conferred upon him by the University of Penn- 
sylvania, and in 1906 that of LL. D. ; which 
degree was also conferred upon him in the 
same year by the Pennsylvania College, of 
Gettysburg. The honorary degree of LL.D. 
was conferred upon him by the University of 
^^'isconsin in 1904; Franklin and Marshall in 
1910; Rutgers College in 1911; University of 
Pittsburgh in 1912, and University of North 
Carolina in 1912. He received the honorary 
degree of L. H. D. from Muhlenburg College in 
1911, and that of Sc. D. from the University of 
Dublin in 1912. 

Dr. Smith is a member of the National Acad- 
emy of Sciences, to which he was elected in 
1898 ; the American Chemical Society, of which 
he was president in 1898; the American Asso- 
ciation for the Advancement of Science, of 
which he was the vice-president in 1898. and 
again in 1915, and the American Philosophical 
Society, of which he was president from 1902 
to 1907. He served as a member of the Chemi- 
cal Jury of Awards at Columbia Exposition in 
1893, and as a member of the United States 
Assay Commission in 1895, and again frorti 
1901 to 1905. He is a member of the Robert 
Morris Club and of many of the University 
societies. He was one of the founders of the 
Pennsylvania Chapter of Phi Kappa Psi, and 
one of the organizers of the Pennsylvania 
Sigma XI honorary fraternity, and was founder 
of the fraternity magazine. "The Shield." 

Dr. Smith has contributed many important 
articles to scientific journals. For a number 
of years he was a member of the Committee on 
Papers and Publications issued by the Ameri- 
can Chemical Society. In addition to his great 
work, "Electro-Chemical Analysis," he has 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



369 



published with Dr. John Marshall a book on 
"The Chemical Analysis of Urine," and with 
Dr. Harry F. Keller a work on "Experiments 
for Students in (jcneral Chemistry." 

He has translated a number of standard Ger- 
man works on chemistry, among which may be 
mcntit)ne(I Richtcr's "Inorganic Chemistry" 
and "( )rganic Chemistry," Classen's "Element- 
ary Quantitative Analysis" and Oettel's "Elec- 
tro-Chemical Experiments" and "Practical 
Exercises in Electro-Chemistry." 



L 



GUIS CHILDS AL\DEIRA, coal miner 
and shipper, Philadelphia, was born in the 
Quaker City, June 2, 1853, and is son of Louis 
Cephas Madeira and Adeline Laura (Powell) 
Madeira. He was educated in the Episcopal 
Academy of Philadelphia and graduated from 
the University of Pennsylvania as B. S. in the 
class of 1872. Mr. Madeira married in Phila- 
delphia, October 16, 1890, Marion Clark, and 
they have three children : Edward Walter, born 
Alarch 2Z, 1893 ; Crawford Clark, born Feb- 
ruary 23, 1894, and Elizabeth, born September 
7, 1906. He was employed as civil engineer on 
the Wilmington and Northern Railroad, 1872- 
1874, the Bound Brook Railroad from 1872 to 
1874, and on the Bound Brook Railroad from 
1874 to 1877. In the latter year he entered the 
firm of Louis C. Madeira & Sons, insurance 
agents and became an officer of Madeira, Hill 
and Company, miners and shippers of anthra- 
cite and bituminous coal, in 1902, and is now 
its secretary. 

Mr. Madeira is also secretary and director of 
George B. Newton & Company, Inc.; secretary 
and treasurer of the Saltsburg Coal and Mining 
Company; the Madeira-Hill-Clark Coal Com- 
pany; Thomas Colliery Company; Black Creek 
Coal Company ; Ashman Coal Company ; 
Brookwood Coal Company ; Colonial Collieries 
Company; director Standard Ice Manufactur- 
ing Company ; Union Insurance Company of 
Pennsylvania ; General Accident Company and 
Insurance Company of State of Pennsylvania. 
In addition he is manager of the Savings So- 



ciety of Germantown, member of the School 
Board of the 21st section; trustee Episcopal 
Academy since 1899, and was elected a trustee 
of the University of Pennsylvania, on nomina- 
tions of the Central Committee of the Alumni, 
in 1910. 

In politics he is a Repul)lican. He has been 
a member of the Committee of Seventy since 
1905; member of the School Board 21st sec- 
tion, and in his church relations he is an I^pis- 
copalian. He has been a trustee of the l<'pis- 
copal Academy since 1899. His favorite 
recreations are golf, rowing, riding, cricket and 
tennis, and he has been active in all outdoor 
sports ; was vice-commodore, 1886-1888, and 
commodore, 1890-1891, of the Schuylkill Navy; 
a director of the Athletic Association of the 
University of Pennsylvania, 1891-1905. He is 
a member of the Rittenhouse, University, 
Philadelphia Country, Corinthian Yacht, Ger- 
mantown Cricket, and Philadelphia Barge 
Clubs. Residence, West School House Lane, 
Germantown. Address, 900 North American 
Building, Philadelphia. 



^SA SHOVE WING, president of the Provi- 
dent Life and Trust Company of Philadel- 
phia, was born in Sandwich, Massachusetts, 
January 29, 1850, and is son of vStephen R. and 
Elizabeth C. (Shove) Wing. He was educated 
in the Moses Brown School at Providence, 
Rhode Island, and in 1867 entered the service 
of the Provident Life and Trust Company. In 
1873 he was appointed assistant actuary, and 
in 1881 was elected vice-president, while re- 
taining the office of assistant actuary. In 1883 
he was made actuary and served until 1899. 
In January, 1906, he was appointed president 
of the company. He was married in Philadel- 
phia, April 30, 1873, to Sophia Rhoads, and has 
one son. In politics he is an Independent Re- 
publican, and in religion a member of the 
Society of Friends. He is a trustee of Haver- 
ford College, of Bryn Mawr College and of 
the William Penn Charter School. Residence, 
4028 \\^ilnut Street. Office, 409 Chestnut 
Street, Philadelphia. 



370 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




MORRIS PEROT. JR. 



/\M(JNG many other distinctions, Philadel- 
phia may claim that of having within her 
civic limits the oldest business house in the 
United States. This was established in the 
Quaker Cit_\- so far back as 1689, and the eighth 
generation of the family which established it 
now controls its destin}-. The Inisiness which 
an enterj^rising j)ioneer in the industrial activ- 
ity of Philadeli)hia created while the town 
founded by William Penn was still in its 
infancy was that of malting, and the man who 
created it was a highly esteemed and well-con- 
nected citizen named Perot. From that day 
in 1689, in wdiich it was started along neces- 



sarilv modest and limited lines, his descend- 
ants have uninterruptedly carried it on ; and in 
this year of grace 1919 a Perot alone is its 
owner. This is a record without parallel in the 
history of any industrv or of any city in the 
United States, and one of wdiich the represent- 
ative of the old family and the old-time busi- 
ness should feel legitimatel}- proud. 

That representative is T. Morris Perot, Jr., 
who is, to repeat, eighth in direct succession 
to and descent from the Perot of early Colonial 
da}s. Pie was born in Philadelphia, which his 
ancestors did much to create and develop, 
-Mav 6, 1872, and is a son of T. Morris and 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPIUA 



371 



Rebecca C. (Sites') Perot. His education was 
received in the well-known De Lancey School, 
and subsequently at a business college ; and 
then he began his life career. That life, from 
a material business viewpoint, has been most 
successful, and along the lines of personal 
honor, commercial integrity and public useful- 
ness it has been equally so. Mr. Perot is 
among the most progressive, the most ener- 
getic and the most unselfish of the sons of 
Philadelphia. Every movement calculated to 
advance the interests of his city or confer 
material benefits upon her people has not 
alone his earnest and active sympathy but his 
generous' pecuniary support ; and he is gener- 
ally recognized as one of the most public-spir- 
ited and useful citizens of Philadelphia. He 
is a prominent and active member of the Com- 
mittee of Seventy, an organization created by 
the reform element of the city to see to the 
jiroper enforcement of its election laws and to 
work generally along the lines of much-needed 
municipal reforms. He is also treasurer of the 
City Municipal Association, is manager of the 
Friends'' Charity Euel Association and the 
Northern Soup Society and is an active mem- 
ber of the Sons of the American Revolution, 
the Union League of Philadelphia and the City 
Club. He was married in Philadelphia May 18, 
1905, to Mary Gummey, and has one son, T. 
^lorris Perot, 3d. His business address is 
Lafayette Building, Philadelphia. 

EDWARD T. STOTESBURY 
IJEAD of the world-famous banking house 
of Drexel Company, Philadelphia, in 
which he began his business career at the age 
of seventeen, Edward T. Stotesbury was born 
in Philadelphia in February, 1849. He received 
his education in the public school, and from 
private tutors and embarked on what has been 
a most signally successful life work at the early 
age indicated. His connections outside those 
of Drexel Company are as numerous and 
varied as they are important. He is a member 
of J. P. Morgan & Company, New York ; presi- 
dent and director of the Germantown Steam 



Heating Comi)any ; Overbrook Steam Heating 
Company ; Pennsylvania Traffic Company ; 
vice-president and director Keystone Watch 
Case Company ; New York Standard Watch 
Company ; director of the Philadelphia Rapid 
Transit Company ; Argo Mills Company , Cot- 
ton Yarns, Buffalo ; Thousand Islands & Port- 
land Railroad Company ; Cambria Iron Com- 
pany ; Cambria Steel Company; Coxe Brothers 
Company, Incorporated ; Crescent Watch Case 
Company ; Electrical Securities Corporation ; 
Delaware, Susquehanna & Schuylkill Railroad 
Company ; East Harvard Watch Company ; 
Franklin National Bank ; Highland Coal Com- 
pany ; Jeflferson Fire Insurance Company ; 
Jessup & Moore Paper Company ; Lehigh Val- 
ley Coal Company; Lehigh Valley Railroad 
Company of New Jersey ; Lehigh Valley Rail- 
road Company ; Lehigh & New York Railroad 
Company ; Maryland Steel Company ; Morris 
Canal and Banking Company ; National Stor- 
age Company ; Fidelity Trust Company ; Na- 
tional Umbrella Frame Company; New York 
& Middle Coal Field Railroad and Coal Com- 
pany ; Niagara Falls Power Company ; Penn- 
sylvania Fire Insurance Company; Pennsyl- 
vania Steel Company ; Philadelphia National 
Bank ; Philadelphia Trust, Safe Deposit and 
Insurance Company ; Philadelphia Watch Case 
Company ; Phoenix Iron Company ; Philadel- 
phia & Reading Railway Company ; Philadel- 
phia & Reading Coal and Iron Company; 
Philadelphia & Erie Railroad Company ; Pul- 
aski Land and Improvement Company ; Read- 
ing Company ; Red Jacket Consolidated Coal 
and Coke Company ; Riverside IMetal Com- 
pany ; Schuylkill & Lehigh Valley Railroad 
Company; Transportation Mutual Insurance 
Company ; United States Watch Company ; 
\\'yoming Valley Coal Company; manager 
(lirard Trust Company; Merchants' Fund of 
Philadelphia ; member of advisory committee 
of stockholders Germantown Trust Company ; 
trustee Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company. 
Member Philadelphia Stock Exchange. 

His Club is the Union League, Philadelphia, 
and his of^ce address Fifth and Chestnut 
Streets, Philadelphia. 



372 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




JUDGE JOHN U. PATTERSON 

T^HERE is no member of the judiciary in 
Philadelphia, or for that matter in the state 
of Pennsylvania, who is better known or more 
deservedly popular than John M. Patterson, 
Judge of ComnKin Pleas Court No. 1. A bril- 
liant lawyer, an upright judge, a good citizen 
and a man whose physical bravery has' been 
attested in the army of the ETnited States, he 
possesses every attribute that demands public 
appreciation and public esteem and the meas- 
ure of the one accorded him is only equalled 
by the depth, earnestness and sincerity of the 
other. 

Judge Patterson was born in the Quaker 
City in 1874. His father, the late Richard Pat- 
terson, was one of the active political leaders 
of his day, and bore through life an unblem- 
ished reputation which won for him a host of 
life-long friends. 

John M. Patterson, his son, was educated in 
the public schools, after which he entered the 
Law School of the University of Pennsylvania, 



from which he graduated in due course. He 
was' admitted to the bar in 1896, the year of 
his graduation, and at once entered into prac- 
tice. In this he was so singularly successful 
that he was selected by City Solicitor Kinsey 
as Assistant City Solicitor, and in this capacity 
did excellent work, earning a widespread repu- 
tation for earnestness and zeal as well as for 
a high order of legal and forensic ability. 

Judge Patterson served for many years as 
Associate District Attorney under John C. 
Bell and had so mastered the details of ofBcial 
procedure as to render his services almost in- 
dispensable. In this light Samuel P. Rotan 
probal)ly regarded them, for when he came up 
for election for a full term he was elected by 
the overwhelming vote of 97,867. 

AX'hen the Spanish-American War was de- 
clared in 1896 Mr. Patterson quit the Temple 
of Justice for the Camp of Mars. He enlisted 
as Color-Sergeant in the First Infantry, Penn- 
sylvania Volunteers, and had risen to the rank 
of Captain when the regiment was mustered 
out at the close of the war. When the United 
States' declared war on Germany in 1917 he 
volunteered his services to Colonel Theodore 
Roosevelt, former President, who had asked 
the Washington Government for permission to 
raise an army division for service in France. 
"In a great crisis like this," he wrote, "I be- 
lieve that every American between 21 and 45, 
if sound of limb and body, whose family would 
not suffer financial privation thereby, should 
offer himself for military service. It will mean 
more to our country and to the enemies of our 
country than mass meetings and patriotic 
speechmaking. Deeds, not words, are what we 
want. Men, not meetings, must be the na- 
tion's safeguard." 

But Judge Patterson's patriotic ambitions 
were not gratified. The War Department re- 
fused Colonel Roosevelt permission to form 
the army division he had contemplated and 
many men throughout the country who had, 
like Judge Patterson, offered their services to 
the ex-President, and, through him to the Gov- 
ernment of the United States, were sadly dis- 
appointed. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



37:] 



Judge Patterson is one of the representa- 
tive men of Philadelphia who believe in better 
housing conditions' for the poor. Living in 
certain homes, which sociologists have char- 
acterized as "death vaults," "Siberian cells" 
and "chambers of horrors," he believes lead to 
crime and he has gone on record in favor of 
the utter and immediate abolition of such dens 
and of such environments. 

He i.s' a member of many social and political 
organizations, including the Dickens Fellow- 
ship, of which he is president ; the American 
Bar Association, the State Bar Association, the 
Law Association, the Athletic Club of Phila- 
delphia, the Morrison Republican Club, the 
L^nion League, the Masonic Fraternity and the 
A'esper Boat, the Art, the Racquet and the 
City clubs. 

CHARLES CUSTIS HARRISON 

pORN in Philadelphia, May 3, 1844, Charles 
Custis Harrison is the son of George Leib 
and Sarah Anne (Waples) Harrison, and is a 
direct descendant of Thomas Harrison, of Car- 
lisle, England, who visited America before the 
Revolution and there espoused the cause of the 
Colonies at the cost of the sacrifice of his Eng- 
lish estate. A son of Thomas established the 
first chemical manufactory in America and this 
was carried on by his descendants (uncles of 
Charles Custis Harrison) under the firm name 
of Harrison Brothers. On his mother's side he 
is descended from the famous family of Custis, 
of A'irginia. 

Mr. Harrison was educated in the Episcopal 
Academy of Philadelphia and later entered the 
Lniversity of Pennsylvania, from which he 
graduated in 1862, with the Degree of Bachelor 
of Arts and securing the Greek salutatorian 
prize and his election to the Phi Betta Kappa 
Society. In the year of his graduation he, with 
two partners, entered the sugar refining busi- 
ness under the firm name of Harrison, New- 
hall & Welsh, which later became known as 
Harrison, Frazier & Company and later as the 
Franklin Sugar Refining Company. In 1892, 
when the refinery was sold, it was doing the 
largest business in value of i)roducts of any 



manufactory in Pennsylvania. Mr. Harrison 
became an active member of St. Luke's Epis- 
copal Church, and the Society for Protection 
of Children from Cruelty, of which he is the 
president. He was elected a trustee of the 
University of Pennsylvania in 1876, and on the 
death as John Welsh succeeded him as chair- 
man of the Committee on Ways and Mean.s'. 
In 1894, on the resignation of Provost Pepper, 
he was requested to accept this of^ce. He de- 
clined, but was finally induced to accept it for 
a brief interval and after a year's experience 
consented in June, 1895, to be installed as pro- 
vost, in which office continued for fifteen years, 
resigning in 1910, after a most successful ad- 
ministration in which the educational stand- 
ards and the material resources of the Univer- 
sity were advanced to an exceptional degree of 
efficiency. He established, in honor of his 
father, the George L. Harrison Foundation 
for the Encouragement of Liberal Studies and 
the Advancement of Knowledge, endowing it 
with $500,000, its purpose being to establish 
scholarships and fellowships for men of excep- 
tional ability, increase the library, and aid pro- 
fessors to devote themselves to special work. 
Mr. Harrison was married, February 22, 
1870, to Ellen Nixon Wain, and has three sons 
and three daughters. He is a member of the 
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 
American Philosophical Society of Pennsyl- 
vania, and Phi Betta Kappa Society. Club, 
University. Address, 400 Chestnut Street, 
Philadelphia. 

^^J FREDERICK SNYDER, Philadelphia 
banker and president of the Northern 
Trust Company of Philadelphia, began his 
business career with John H. Weeks as con- 
veyancer. He then entered the real estate 
business in which he was engaged until 1879, 
when he was elected to the position of presi- 
dent of the company which he now represents. 
He is also a director of the Girard National 
Hank and of the Independence Trust Company. 
His Club is the Whitemarsh Valley, of which 
he was former president. His office address is 
135 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia. 



374 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




p. F. ROTHERMEL. jR. 



The Bar of riiiladflphia has h)ng l)een 
regarded as the living embodiment of legal 
acumen, resourcefulness and skill. 15}- com- 
mon consent it occupies the foremost rank of 
the legal profession in the United States in 
profound knowledge and forensic eloquence ; 
and to be regarded as an able lawyer in the 
Quaker City means emphatically that the man 
so regarded for himself a claim for leadership 
and ability which the rest of the country will- 
ingly accepts and recognizes without question. 

Of such legal lights there is a large array in 
Philadelphia, and conspicuous among them is 
the subject of this sketch, P. F. Rothermel, Jr. 
A broad and comprehensive knowledge of the 



law, a resourcefulness of remarkable extent and 
variety, a very high ability and the rare fac- 
ult\' of immediately recognizing the salient 
points and features of a case and of making 
provision to grapple with and dispose of them 
at the proper time and in the proper place, are 
his chief characteristics; but there are others 
of less importance that go to make up the 
clever lawyer and successful advocate. 

With such traits and qualifications his 
remarkable success in his profession has come 
in something of the nature of a mere matter of 
course. Prospective clients heard that he was 
a great lawyer ; put the popular and widespread 
impression to the test ; found that Mr. Rother- 



THE SrORY OF PH ILADRLri 1 1 .1 



mei's abilities were not overrated and l^ecame 
liis client and his friend to the end of their 
relations. 

Mr. Rothermel is of Dutch descent, coming 
of that sturdy race which contributed some of 
the most daring, useful and progressive pio- 
neers of civilization on the great western conti- 
nent, as well as some of the earliest. A literal 
translation of his name means "Red Slieve," 
and the eighteenth century was only three 
years old when his immediate ancestors' landed 
in Pennsylvania, settled in the beautiful Wyo- 
ming Valley, the sceneland of Longfellow's 
poem of "Hiawatha," where, like the average 
Dutch immigrants of those days, they grew in 
prosperity and wealth. 

Here Mr. Rothermel's grandfather resided 
for a time, but coming to Philadelphia in 1820 
he became proprietor of the Eagle Hotel, on 
Third Street near Arch. Of Mr. Rothermel's 
father, Peter F. Rothermel, little need be said 
to the Pennsylvania readers' of this sketch. He 
was one of the greatest artists that the Key- 
stone State ever produced, and the splendid 
painting, "The Battle of Gettysburg," which 
adorns the State Capitol at Harrisburg, will 
ever remain a monument to his genius. 

P. F. Rothermel, the subject of this sketch, 
was born September 27, 1850, in Philadelphia, 
where his illustrious father had established his 
studio. W^hen about seven years old he was 
taken to Europe by the elder Rothermel, who 
spent a long time abroad in painting historical 
pictures. During this time his son received his 
education in the schools of France, Italy and 
Germany, and on his return to Philadelphia 
completed a classical course in the Central 
High School, from w^hich he graduated with 
' xceptionally high honors in 1867. 

After graduation he decided to adopt the 
legal profession as his life career, and became 
a student in the law office of Hon. James T. 
Mitchell, afterwards Chief Justice of the 
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Here he 
worked earnestly and well. He had decided, 
even then, to make a name in the profession, 
and his zeal in the acquirement of legal knowl- 
edge and the more varied knowledge that expe- 
rience brings', kept pace with his ambition. He 



was a close an<l diligent student, and had in a 
remarkable degree the faculty of seeing things 
from the proper perspective and acquiring 
knowledge and ex])crience from even the most 
apparently trivial matters. 

The office in which he studied hard and saw 
and heard a great deal was an excellent school 
of pure and simple practical knowledge, and 
he availed of it to the fullest extent to qualify 
himself thoroughly for his work in after life. 

Mr. Rothermel's legal career was a success 
almost from the start, and he now enjoys a 
large and presumably lucrative practice. He 
long ago established a liigh reputation as a cor- 
poration lawyer, and is counsel for many of the 
leading institutions in the city and elsewhere. 

He is a staunch Republican in politics, and 
in 1884 would have received the party nomina- 
tion for City Solicitor — which was equivalent 
to election — but unselfishly withdrew in favor 
of the late Charles F. Warwick, afterward 
Mayor of Philadelphia. 

Other proffers of political advancement he 
subsequently refused, but in 1898, at the solici- 
tation of many eminent public men, he accepted 
the nomination for District Attorney, and was 
elected by a large majority. The duties of this 
exacting office he discharged with ability, zeal 
and impartiality and due regard for the public 
interests ; and when he retired at the end of his 
term he bore with him into such retirement 
the resi)ect and admiration of the public and 
the good will of all with whom his official 
duties brought him in contact. 

Mr. Rothermel is an ardent advocate of the 
outdoor life and the application of the law of 
hygiene and health in the development of 
physical manhood. He l)ears somewhat of a 
rejnitation as a pedestrian and is an active 
member of athletic and other clubs that culti- 
\ate an interest in outdoor life. 

At one time he was fond of boating on the 
Schuylkill River, and is a member of the Bach- 
elors Barge Club. He is also a member of the 
well-known Clover Club and of other leading 
social organizations' of Philadelphia. 

In brief, he is a high type of American man- 
hood and a citizen of which the Quaker City 
is very justly proud. 



376 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




T 



FRANCIS BREWSTER REEVES 

HE name of iM-ancis Brewster Reeves is one 
to conjure with in the City of Philadelphia. 
Head of the great wholesale groceries firm of 
Reeves, Parvin & Co., established in 1828; a 
well-known banker and a political reformer 
associated with every possible movement for 
purer i)olitics and higher and nol)ler ideals of 
municipal government, he is known and rev- 
ered in every section of the Ouaker City. 

His singleness of purpose, his utter unself- 
ishness, his willingness at all times to make 
personal sacrifices in the interest of progress 
and reform are thoroughly recognized and 
ai)preciated, and the association of his name 
with anv public project stamps it imniediately 
with the imprint of public acceptance and pul)- 
lic ai)proval. He is, in one word, the dean of 
political reformers in Philadelphia, and as such 
possesses to the fullest extent the confidence, 
as he does the esteem, of every one in the 
Ouaker City, including even those whose meth- 
ods he assails and whose regime he has over 



and over again undertaken and fought gal- 
lantly t(j overthrow. 

Mr. Reeves was born in Bridgeton, New 
Jersey, and is a son of Johnson Reeves and 
Elizabeth Riley Reeves. He was educated .in 
pri\ate schools and in Harmony Academy of 
his native city. Coming to Philadelphia in 
1854. he entered the service of the Girard Bank 
as clerk and bookkeeper, and held this position 
until 1858, when he resigned to become con- 
nected with the Avholesale grocery business, 
with w hich he has been identified ever since. 

Air. Reeves is also associated intimately and 
activeh' with a large number of other enter- 
l)rises and organizations. He was president 
of the Girard National Bank from 1899 to 
1914. when he resigned and was elected chair- 
man of the Board of Directors ; was president 
of the Clearing House Association of National 
Banks of Philadelphia, and of the Philadelphia 
Belt Line Railroad Company. He is a director 
of the Savings Fund Society of Germantowui 
and Vicinity, and of the Bell Telephone Com- 
])any of Philadelphia. 

In addition, he is manager of the Merchants' 
Fund and of the Mercantile Beneficial Associa- 
tion, and is treasurer of the Thomas B. Evans 
Museum and Institute Society. He is als'o a 
director of the Louden Park Cemetery Co., 
Baltimore, Md., a meml^er of the Advisory 
Board of the Ciermantown Trust Company, the 
W^omen's Christian Association of German- 
town and the (iermantown Hospital. 

Mr. Reeves is a staunch and uncompromis- 
ing Reijublican in national politics, but is abso- 
lutely indei)endent of party ties in the politics 
of his State and City. Efficiency rather than 
party is his incentive and aspiration so far as 
these latter are concerned, and reform has been 
his watchword and guide for many years. He 
is ever foremost in philanthropic w^ork, and in 
1892 was Commissioner of the City of Philadel- 
phia to Russia when a steamship load of flour 
was shipped fre>m the Ouaker City to the 
famine-stricken subjects of the Czar. In rec- 
ognition of his great services on that occasion 
the Russian Emperor, Alexander III. presented 
him with an exquisite and costly gold and 



THE STORY OF ri 1 1 LAnTLTIU A 



silver table service, in 1881 he was selected 
as chairman of the Committee of One Hundred 
Executive Committee, and for two years dis- 
charged its arduous and exacting duties with 
the greatest satisfaction. In 1888 he was 
appointed by the courts a member of the Board 
of Education of Philadelphia. 

-Mr. Reeves is an elder of the Presbyterian 
Church and trustee of the (ieneral Assembly 
of the Presbyterian Church in the United 
States. He is also superintendent of Wakefield 
Presbyterian Simday School, and is always 
actively and liberally associated with religious 
and pri^•ate charities. 

He is a member of the Historical Society of 
Pennsylvania, of the Presbyterian Historical 
Society, of the American Academy of Political 
and Social Science, of the Fairmount Park Art 
Association and of the Philadelphia Academy 
of the Fine Arts. 

His clubs are the City Club, of Philadelphia, 
and the Science and Art, of Germantown. He 
was married in Philadelphia April 26, 1860, to 
Ellen Bernard Thompson, who died in 1901, 
and has four children — Mrs. George H. Dea- 
con, Mrs. Sidney Williams, Francis P., Jr.. and 
Mrs. Arthur Haines. 

His residence is McKean Avenue, German- 
town, Philadelphia, and his office address, 
Girard National Bank, 116 South Third Street. 
Philadelphia. 

QEORGE BURNHAM, JR., manufacturer, 
capitalist and banker, was born in Phila- 
delphia, November 30, 1849, and is son of 
George Burnham, one of the firm of proprietors 
of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, who suc- 
ceeded the originator of the w^orks, Matthias 
W. Baldwin, and his partner and successor, 
John Baird. He was educated in the Rens- 
selaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N. Y ., grad- 
uating as a civil engineer in 1872. He married 
in Philadelphia, April 14, 1881, Anna G. Lewis, 
He entered the Baldwin works, in which his 
father had become senior partner, and which 
had adopted the title of Burnham, Williams & 
Company, and managed its financial depart- 



ment until December 31, 1906, when he retired 
from the firm and from active business pur- 
suits. The Baldwin works have of recent 
years enormously developed in capacity and 
are decisively the foremost locomotive manu- 
factory in the world. 

Mr. Burnham is also president of the Key- 
stone Coal & Iron Company ; vice-president 
and director of the Union Trust Company ; C. 
H. Wheeler Manufacturing Company, and the 
Bartram Hotel Company, and a director of the 
Central National J'.ank, and the Trades League 
of Philadelphia. 

In political life, Mr. Burham became promi- 
nent as an active reformer in municipal afi'airs, 
and as president of the Municipal League of 
Philadeli)hia worked earnestly for the over- 
throw of the political machine in that city ; he 
resigned the presidency of this association a 
few years ago, but is still on its list of mem- 
bers and is the treasurer and a member of the 
executive committee of the National Municipal 
League, an out-growth of the Philadelphia 
association. He is an associate member of the 
American Society of Civil Engineers and a 
member of the University and Art Clubs of 
Philadelphia and the City Clubs of New York 
and Philadelphia. Residence, 214 North Thirty- 
fourth Street. r)fTfice, 1218 Chestnut Street, 
Philadelphia. 

QEORGE \Y. CHILDS DREXEL was born 
in Philadelphia, in 1868, and is son of the 
late Anthony Drexel, the well-known banker 
and philanthropist. He was educated in private 
schools and by tutors and was married at V'in- 
centown, Burlington County, New Jersey, No- 
vember 18, 1891, to Mary S. Frick. Afr. Drexel 
became connected with the Philadelphia Led- 
ger in association with the late George W^ 
Childs. whom he succeeded as editor and pub- 
lisher of that paper, conducting it until 1903, 
when the paper was' sold and he retired. His 
town house is at Locust and lughteenth 
Streets, Philadelphia, and country homes are 
'AVootton," Bryn Mawr, Pa., and North Isles- 
boro, Maine. Office, 608 Chestnut Street 
Philadeljihia. 



378 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




HERMAN L. HOHLFELD 



i^NE of the most cons])ici.U)Us examples of 
the prominent men of our (hiy who have 
carved their fortunes out of the opjiortunitieS 
of which their industry availed, or created, and 
who stand the embodiment of business enter- 
prize, commercial integrity and the highest 
sense of personal honor, is Herman L. Hohl- 
feld, president and sole proprietor of the Hohl- 
feld Manufacturing Company, whose i)roduct 
of hammocks of all grades and styles has long 
since acquired a reputation co-extensive with 
their use, both in the United States and abroad. 
Born January 12, 1866. amidst the mountain 
passes of historic Saxony, which has given to 



the world at large so many men famous in 
commercial and manufacturing enterprises, he 
was but a lad of six when his parents left the 
land of their birth in pursuit of fortune in the 
United States. In Saxony the textile indus- 
try takes the lead, a vast number of persons 
lieing employed in the weaving of linen, cot- 
ton and woolen fabrics, and in the manufacture 
of knitted goods, embroidery and lace. In such 
environments it was but natural that Mr. 
Hohlfeld's father, Henry Hohlfeld, should be- 
come a weaver, and he did. 

After some years at the loom he was pro- 
moted by his employers to the responsible and 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



379 



somewhat onerous position of salesman, and 
was still acting in this capacity when in 1871, 
accompanied by his wife, Caroline, and their 
son, the subject of this sketch, he emigrated to 
the United States. 

Arriving in New York, he got employment 
at this trade, and for two years continued in 
the Empire City. Adams, Massachusetts, was 
his next objective, and there he spent four 
years, moving after that period to Philadel- 
phia, where he got immediate employment as a 
weaver in the extensive plant of John and 
fames Dobson. With this firm he remained 
until 1886, wdien he died. 

Up to the age of twelve Herman L. Hohl- 
feld had attended the public school at Adams ; 
but on the arrival of the family at Philadel- 
phia he secured employment as creel boy in 
the plant in which his father worked. His 
connection with the firm of John and James 
Dobson was marked by diligence, industry and 
strict attention to the details of his w^ork. He 
had, in a comparatively short time, acquired 
the habit of doing the right thing in the right 
way, and almost invariably he did it well. To 
such a lad promotion was inevitable, and pro- 
moted he regularly was until he had attained 
the responsible position as assistant yarn boss. 
Later on, when he had mastered all the intrica- 
cies and details of this work, he took up weav- 
ing, and as weaver spent the rest of his time 
with the firm, with which in various capacities 
he was connected about seven years. 

Leaving the Dobson firm he became con- 
nected with that of McCallum & McCallum, 
as weaver, and continued in their employment 
for a year and a half. Working for a similar 
period for Ivins, Deitz & Magee, he became 
yarn boss with this latter firm, and held that 
position for two and a half years. At this 
period the management of John and James 
Dobson, mindful of his former record and serv- 
ices, offered him the position of overseer, 
which he accepted and held for five years, en- 
joying all that time the fullest confidence of 
his employers and the respect and esteem of 
all with whom his business relations brought 
him in contact. 



By this time his record for fidelity, efficiency 
and worth had become firmly established, and 
as a result he was offered the responsible posi- 
tion of general manager by the Van Deventer 
Carpet Company, an organization owning and 
operating two plants, one at Plainfield, N. J., 
and the other at Greensboro, N. C. Three 
years of a strenuous life was spent in this ca- 
pacity, and at the end of that time Mr. Ilohl- 
feld returned to Philadelphia to become the 
partner of Mr. Patterson, in the Patterson 
Manufacturing Company. 

With the name changed to Patterson and 
Hohlfeld, the firm continued the manufacture 
of hammocks until 1904, when Mr. Hohlfeld 
purchased the interest of his partner and be- 
came sole proprietor of what is now know^n 
far and wide as the Hohlfeld Manufacturing 
Company. 

The output of the firm includes a general 
line of hammocks, couches, Turkish towels 
and a particularly fine grade of linens. A fea- 
ture of their products also is the application of 
many new devices, such as adjustable head- 
rests, and the latest innovations in the proper 
adjustment and hanging of hammocks. 

As a result of the practical application of 
the good old motto that merit counts, and of 
the appreciation which such application invari- 
ably entails, the business of the firm is not 
only already established on a substantial basis, 
but is being steadily and systematically 
extended. 

"See and you will buy," is a guiding princi- 
ple with Mr. Hohlfeld. No one more thor- 
oughly realizes the value of publicity com- 
bined with superior workmanship than he ; and 
to attain it in a strictly practical way he main- 
tains, at 221 Fourth Avenue, in the American 
Woolen Ikiilding, New York City, a large and 
well appointed sample room for hammocks, 
and at 61 White Street, New York City, for 
the towel department, where the products of 
his looms may be inspected by the trade in 
general. 

The steady growth of his business in Phila- 
delphia has forced his removal to larger and 
more commodious premises, and upon the 



380 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



large plot of ground on Sedgley Avenue, at 
Tenth Street, North of the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road Company's tracts and East of German- 
town Avenue, Mr. Hohlfeld has' erected one 
of the most up-to-date and elaborately 
equipped fire-proof factories in the city. 

This structure is built entirely of concrete, 
has its own electric light and power plant, is 
thoroughly ventilated and well lighted, and is, 
in a word, a workshop in wdiich all the re- 
quirements of sanitation and of hygiene, and 
all the needs of its army of toilers in the direc- 
tion of safety and of health, are adequately 
conserved. 

In politics Mr. Hohlfeld is a Republican, but 
he has never had any desire for political pre- 
ferment or office. He is a member of the 
Union League, the Manufacturers' Club, the 
Trades League, the Philadelphia and National 
Chamber of Commerce, Pen and Pencil Club, 
the American Civic Alliance, Atlantic Deeper 
Waterw^ays. He also holds high rank in the 
Masonic Order, being a member of Lodge No. 
9, F. & A. M., of Philadelphia, Corinthian 
Chapter, R. A. M., the Scottish Rite, Corin- 
thian Commandery, and is also a member of 
Lu Lu Temple Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. 

His residence address is 6521 Lincoln Drive, 
Philadelphia. 



"DANDAL MORGAN, lawyer and capitalist, 
was born in Philadelphia, (October 18, 1862. 
and is son of Charles E. and Jane Potter 
(Buck) Morgan. He received his education 
in the Germantown Academy and later entered 
the University of Pennsylvania, from wdnich he 
graduated, in 1873, with the Degree of 
Bachelor of Arts, receiving later from the same 
university the Degree of Master of Arts. He 
studied law in the office of Morgan and Lewis 
and was admitted to the Bar of Philadelphia 
in 1877. He married Anna, daughter of Mar- 
shall Spring Shapleigh. 

In his practice he has attended specially to 
corporation law, and in 1882 was appointed 



general counsel for the United Gas Improve- 
ment Company. This position he still holds, 
and has been third vice-president of that com- 
pany since 1892. He is also vice-president of 
the Public Service Corporation of New Jersey, 
and of the Welsbach Company ; manager of 
Girard Trust Company, Western Saving Fund 
Society of Philadelphia ; director First National 
Bank, Philadelphia National Bank, Union 
Lighting and Heating Company (Philadel- 
phia), and Trust Company of America (New 
York City). He was elected a trustee of the 
University of Pennsylvania in 1897, and is a 
member of the Rittenhouse, ^Manufacturers' 
and University clubs of Philadelphia, and of 
the Lotus and University Clubs' of New York. 
Address, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia. 



pRANCIS ENOCH BREWSTER, banker 
and lawyer, was born in Philadelphia, 
March 17, 1852, and is son of Honorable Fred- 
erick Carroll and Emma (Bartso) Brewster. 
He was educated in the public schools of Phila- 
delphia and later entered the University of 
Pennsylvania, from which he graduated, with 
the Degree of Bachelor of Arts, in 1870, and 
from which he received the Degree of Master 
of Arts three years later. He was admitted to 
the Bar of Philadelphia in March, 1873. and 
also to the Supreme Courts of Pennsylvania 
and the United States. He was married in 
Atlantic City, N. J., March 2, 1901, to Georgia 
Beaver, of Germantown, Philadelphia. Until 
January, 1899, he was assistant solicitor to the 
Board of City Trusts and was elected solicitor, 
a position he still holds. He was first vice- 
president and director of the Commonwealth 
Title Insurance and Trust Company of Phila- 
delphia ; is a Republican in politics and in re- 
ligion is an Episcopalian. His Clubs are the 
Germantown Cricket, Philadelphia Barge, 
Lawyers', Racquet (treasurer and member 
Board of Governors). Residence, Manheim 
Street, near Wissahickon Avenue, German- 
town. Office, 214 West Washington Square, 
Philadelphia. 



THE STORY OF I'l 1 1 1 .AniiLI'l i I A 



3s I 




THOMAS DeWITT CUYLER 



/^NE of the foremost cor])oration lawyers and 
financiers in the United States, and one of 
the most active and successful, Colonel Thomas 
De A\'itt Cuyler stands a unique and command- 
ing figure in the Uar of Philadelphia. 

His wide knowledge and varied experience 
of this branch of legal work are well and widely 
known, and the constructive alnlity for which 
he is famous is largely availed of h}' corpora- 
tions all over the city. 

In addition to this, his l)usiness interests 
and affiliations are most extensive and widely 
di\ersified, with the result that, although a man 
of considerable wealth, he is generally as ])US}' 
as the proverbial bee and just as industrious. 



Colonel Cuyler was born in Thiladelphia 
September 2X, 1S54, and has been associated 
with the city all his life. Coming of good old 
Dutch ancestry, on both the paternal and 
maternal sides, his father was Theodore Cuy- 
ler, who was for many years one of the Quaker 
City's most prominent lawyers', and who was 
at one time counsel for the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road Company. 

His mother was Mary De \\ itt. of the well- 
known famil}- of that name, and ])oth ])arents 
were as much honored and esteemed in the 
citv as they were socially and otherwise promi- 
nent. Colonel Cuyler received his elementary 
education in the private schools of Philadel- 



382 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



phia. and later entered Yale, from which, after 
a brilliant course, he graduated in 1874 with 
the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and since then 
has been made LL. D. 

Immediately after graduation he took up the 
study of the law in his father's office, and was 
admitted to the Bar June 2, 1876. From the 
start his professional life was a success. With 
the prestige of his father's name as a valuable 
asset, he began his career, but in a compara- 
tively short time he established a name and a 
reputation of his own, with the natural result 
that his law business grew steadily larger and 
wider in its scope. His practice was a general 
one, but later he made the study of corporation 
law a specialty, and shortly established a repu- 
tation and an influence that have long since 
been recognized and a|)preciated all over the 
country. 

He is now counsel for a large number of 
corporations in Pennsylvania and other states, 
among which may be mentioned the Adams 
Express Company, the Equitable Life Assur- 
ance Company, the Guarantee Company of 
North America and the Franklin National 
Bank. 

Colonel Cuyler's business connections are 
most extensive, also. He is president and 
director of the Commercial Trust Company, 
the Pennsylvania Company for Insurances' on 
Lives and Granting Annuities, the Philadelphia 
Savings Fund, the Guarantee Comjjany of 
North America, the Bankers' Trust Company, 
the Guarantee Trust Company, the I'nited 
States Mortgage and Trust Comj^any, the 
Equital)le Trust Company of New York and 
the Equita])le Life Insurance Society of the 
United States. 

He is also largely interested in many of the 
great transportation comjjanies. and is a direct- 
or of the Pennsylvania, the Atchison. Topeka 
and Santa h>, the New York, the Long Island 
and Maine Central railroads, the New Eng- 
land Navigation Company, etc. 

Colonel Cu}-ler has been for manv vears 
prominent in the National (iuard of Pennsyl- 
vania. In December, 1874. he enlisted in the 
First I'roop, Philadelphia Cavalry, and in Feb- 



ruary, 1883, was mustered out with the rank 
of Sergeant. On September 10, 1887, he was 
appointed Judge Advocate of the First Bri- 
gade, serving as such until appointed Division 
Judge Advocate. Subsequently, during the 
administration of Governor Pattison, he was 
appointed Judge Advocate General of the State 
National Guard, a position which carries with 
it the grade of Colonel. 

While Colonel Cuyler is a member of the 
Young Men's Democratic Association, he has 
never identified himself very closely or actively 
with either State or Municipal politics. 

He is a member of the Second Presbyterian 
Church, and for many years he has taken an 
active and prominent part in its afifairs, and is 
at present serving upon its Board of Trustees'. 

His clubs include the Philadelphia, the Rit- 
tenhouse, the Racquet and the Country, of 
Philadelphia, and the Century and University 
clubs, of New York. 

Colonel Cuyler was married in 1881 to 
Frances Levis, and has four daughters. His 
residence address is 

and his' office address, 701 Commercial Trust 
Building, Philadelphia. 

WILLIAM BARKLIE HENRY, banker, 
Philadelphia, was born in the Quaker 
City, December 5, 1867, the son of Morton 
Pearson and Annie (McKee) Henry. Edu- 
cated, in the first instance, in the public schools 
of Philadelphia he entered the University of 
Pennsylvania, from wdiich he graduated in 
1889. Mr. Henry is senior partner of the bank- 
ing firm of Henry and West and is president 
of the American Girard Rail Fastner Company, 
and of the Standard Patent Appliance Com- 
pany and is director of the Netherlands Tram- 
way Company and of the Chestnut Street 
Realty Company. He is an Episcopalian and is 
a member of the Delta Psi Fraternity. His 
Clubs are the Philadelphia, Racquet, Corin- 
thian Yacht of Philadelphia, and the New York 
Yacht of New York City. He was married in 
Washington, D. C, to Alice, daughter of Gen- 
eral William A\'. Belknap, Secretary of \\'ar 
under President Grant 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



383 




JOHN HOWARD McFADDEN 



r^OMING of a famih- long identitied with 
Philadelphia and among the leaders of its 
most exclusive social set. wealthy, ciTltured 
and dignified, John Howard McFadden is one 
of the Quaker City's most prominent men and 
among the most esteemed. Cosmopolitan in 
his habits, he has spent many years of his life 
abroad, and there are few capitals in Europe in 
Avhich he has not mixed, an honored guest, in 
the very highest circles. A patron of Art and 
the Sciences, his name is known throughout 
the world, and in the metropolis of England 
^vhat is known as the "John Howard McFad- 
den Research Fund" is as familiar as a house- 
li')ld word. 



In commercial circles far apart throughout 
tlie globe he is also well known, and every- 
where to his credit. Xor is the full measure of 
his great ]:)opularity to be wondered at. It is, 
rather, the logical effect of a natural cause; 
and in his ])articular case the cause is an inher- 
ent urban It}-, a rare personal magnetism, a 
\\ ide and Aaried knowledge of men and things, 
a cultured mind, a charming manner and an 
almost inexhaustible fund of humor and that 
sense of humor so typical of the Irish race, 
from one of the most prominent northern septs 
of which Mr. McFadden is descended. 

Mr. Mcl'adden was born in Philadelphia 
December 3, 1S50. and is a son of ( jeorge Mc- 



384 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Fadden, founder of the extensive business, in 
wliich he and his brothers have an interest. He 
was educated at the Episcopal Academy, and 
was thoroughly prepared for a college course, 
but his father dying in 1868 he had to abandon 
his further studies, forego a course of univer- 
sity training and apply himself instead to mer- 
cantile pursuits. His brother, George H. Mc- 
Fadden, had previously been connected with 
the business, and three years after their 
father's death the firm of George H. McFadden 
& Brother was established, the subject of this 
sketch becoming a partner in what has long 
since become the greatest cotton corporation 
in the world, with a branch house in every 
great country and a trade coextensive with the 
boundary lines of civilization. 

In 1871 John Howard McFadden took up 
his residence in London as' senior member of 
the firm of Frederic Zerega & Co., a corpora- 
tion established to take charge of the foreign 
interests of George H. McFadden & Brother. 
From his schoolboy days Mr. McFadden had 
been keenly interested in science and art, and 
when he went to London had all the advan- 
tages of close and intimate association with 
the leading scientists of the world, as well as 
with the world's most prominent artists and 
patrons of art. 

That association was of incalculable benefit 
to him. It broadened his perspective, it stimu- 
lated faculties that in other circumstances 
might have continued dormant, and it gave 
further stability and the imprint of a superior 
authority to his views and opinions regarding 
matters within the scope of the fruitful field of 
research and of mental expansion which 
proved so attractive to him and which occupied 
so much of his time. 

At this period the alarming growth of cancer 
and other germ diseases forced itself upon his 
attention and study, and after long and pains- 
taking investigation he, establia'hed the 
Research Fund, to which reference has already 
been made. The habitat of the Fund is the 
Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, at 
Chelsea Gardens, London, and of this Mr. 
IMcFadden is the sole and only patron. Here 



a corps of competent scientists' are continually 
investigating the causes of the terrible malady 
of cancer and similar germ diseases, and so far 
the work performed by these scientists has 
been of the most gratifying and encouraging 
character. 

In this' connection it is entirely proper to 
say that Mr. McFadden's noble efiforts on 
behalf of stricken humanity have been lavishly 
lauded by the entire medical press of Great 
Britain, and in almost equal degree by the 
medical press of the entire world. Such efiforts 
are the promptings of the truest and best phi- 
lanthropy ; and when in the future a cure for 
cancer shall inevitably have been discovered, 
no matter where, or no matter by whom, Mr. 
McFadden must be recognized as one of the 
first and one of the foremost pioneers in the 
grand and unselfish w^ork of discovering such 
a cure. This has bafiled and eluded science so 
far, but science must ultimately win ; and with 
the triumph of science will come personal tri- 
umph for John Howard McFadden. 

After an absence of twenty-one years s'pent 
principally in London, but interspersed and 
relieved by many tours in the European conti- 
nent, Mr. McFadden returned to his native 
Philadelphia in 1904 to look after his steadily 
growing and expanding interests in that city. 
Immediately on his return he purchased the 
magnificent residence of Alexander Brown, the 
noted banker, at Nineteenth and Walnut 
Streets. Here he has an almost priceless' col- 
lection of objects of art. Some thirty years 
ago he began a collection of Fighteenth-Cen- 
turv paintings by English old Masters, and his 
gallery of these is about one of the choicest and 
most extensive in the world. 

Manv curious and quaint miscellaneous 
objects are also included in 'Mr. ]\IcFadden's 
collection, among which is one he prizes highly. 
This is a globe representing the world, and at 
the North Pole is traced Admiral Peary's route 
to it, and also the signature of the intrepid 
explorer. At the South Pole the signature of 
Captain Roald Amundsen, its discoverer, is 
traced, while that of Sir Ernest Shackleton is 
afiixed to the Antarctic Magnetic Pole, which 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



3S5 



he reached. The spot where Stefanson discov- 
ered the White Eskimo is marked by the sig- 
nature of that explorer. 

During Sir Ernest Shackleton's recent visit 
to the United States he was the guest of Mr. 
]\IcFadden, to whom he presented a complete 
collection of rare specimens, the accumulation 
of his' several voyages to the Antarctic regions. 
]\Iosses, grasses, flowers and shrubs, with spec- 
j imens of insect life, minerals and rock, are 
included in this superb collection, together with 
magnificent photographs of the giant glaciers 
and wide expanses of ice that mark the frozen 
deep arotmd the southern extremity of the 
world. 

All these specimens — the entire collection, in 
point of fact — Air. McFadden presented to the 
Philadelphia Museum and School of Industrial 
i Art, of which he is one of the trustees. 

Air. AIcFadden holds membership in some of 
the most exclusive scientific, art and social 
organizations in this country and abroad. 

I Among them are the Junior Carlton, of Lon- 
don ; the Metropolitan, the New York Yacht 
Club, the Players and New York clubs, of New 

\ York City ; the Union League, Art and Racquet 
clubs, of Philadelphia, and many others. 

He was president of the Art Club, Philadel- 

I phia, and is a trustee of Jefiferson Hospital and 
College, is a member of the Historical and 
Geographical Societies of Philadelphia and the 
National Geographical Society, of Washington, 
D. C. He is, in fact, a man of many parts', a 
man of affairs and of the world, a good citizen 
and a credit to Philadelphia. 



^yiLLIAM POTTER, lawyer and diplomat, 
of Philadelphia, and president of the Jef- 
ferson Medical College and Hospital, was born 
in Philadelphia, April 7, 1852, and is son of 
Thomas and Adaline Coleman (Powxr) Potter. 
Me was educated in the public schools and en- 
tered the University of Pennsylvania in the 
class of 1874, but left the institution before 
graduation. 



Mr. Potter was formerly vice-president, and 
is now director, of Thomas Potter Sons & 
Company, Incorporated ; member of the Phila- 
delphia Bar, and of the Board of City Trusts, 
which has oversight of Girard College, Ben- 
jamin h>anklin Fund and all other trusts be- 
queathed to the City of Philadelphia, and 
trustee of Pennsylvania Institute for Deaf and 
Dumb. He was United States minister to Italy 
by appointment of President Harrison ; special 
Government commissioner to London, Paris 
and Berlin, to negotiate system of Marine Post 
Offices, 1890; delegate of the United States to 
the Universal Postal Union, Vienna, 1891 ; re- 
fused the tender of ambassador to Germany 
from President AIcKinley, Alarch, 1897 ; served 
on the National Relief Commission to Porto 
Rico during the Spanish-American War. He 
is a member of the Permanent Relief Com- 
mittee of Philadelphia ; was chairman of the 
Advisory Board of Citizens called to counsel 
Mayor Weaver during 1905 ; nominated on 
Uniform Primary by City and Democratic 
parties for Mayor of Philadelphia, and though 
defeated, secured 97,856 votes against the 
Republican organization. He was also sec- 
retary of the Union League of Philadelphia. 
In addition, Mr. Potter is member of Council 
of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania ; di- 
rector Pennsylvania Society, Sons of Revolu- 
tion ; honorary member New Jersey Society of 
the Cincinnati, and member Society War of 
1812. During the w^ar between the L^nited 
States and Germany he was appointed fuel 
administrator of the State of Pennsylvania and 
discharged the incidental duties with efficiency 
and tact. He married, first, in Chestntit Hill, 
April 25, 1878, Jane Kennedy Vanuxem. who 
died January 17, 1897; married, second, Hetty 
Vanuxem, her sister, in 1899, who died August 
12, 1901, and he had four children, Frederick 
Vanuxem (died April, 1885), Adaline Coleman, 
now Mrs. Joseph \\'alker Wear, T^lizabeth 
Vanuxem Potter, now Airs. A\'illiam E. Good- 
man, Jr., and Alice Vanuxem Potter. Resi- 
dence, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia. Office ad- 
dress, 1001 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. 



386 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




MORRIS WOOD 



IV/rORRIS WOOD, well known capitalist of 
Philadelphia, whose operations in real 
estate are as extensive as they are varied and 
important, is one of the remarkable men in 
the business activities and social life of the 
Quaker City. Young in years, but matured 
by training, instinct and experience, he is a 
business man of exceptionally high capacity 
and the success that has crowned his life ef- 
forts in the particular domain to which he has 
devoted his' talents is due to the exercise of 
sound judgment and a thorough appreciation 
of the possibilities of the future rather than to 
the fortuitous circumstances, or combination 



of circumstances, by which the fortunes of 
men are often determined and their whole 
lives shaped. 

Possibly this acute instinct is also a heritage 
from that ancestor, for in his day Wistar Mor- 
ris was regarded as one of the cleverest busi- 
ness men that ever controlled in Pennsylvania 
interests so vast or so complicated as those 
which under his able management were 
crowned with such signal or such abiding 
success. 

Of Wistar Morris, grandfather of Morris 
Wood, it is unnecessary to write to any extent 
because, in the first instance, his name is as 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



387 



a household word in Pennsylvania, and in the 
next because any reference that would do but 
simple justice to his personality and life work 
would necessarily far exceed the limits of an 
ordinary life sketch. To those of another gen- 
eration, however, it may be said that Wistar 
Morris — more extensively and popularly 
known as Wistar Morris — was one of the most 
distinguished and most illustrious men that 
Philadelphia ever produced. Representative 
of a name associated with the Quaker City 
since the days of Anthony Morris, its second 
mayor, Wistar Morris was born in Philadel- 
phia in 1835. A thorough business training 
supplemented the liberal education he received 
and in his early manhood he became interested 
in the development of the anthracite coal re- 
gions of the State. His talents as an engineer 
of more than ordinary ability were devoted 
assiduously to this work, and the extraordi- 
nary development of the anthracite industry in 
Pennsylvania is due in the largest possible 
measure to his industry, his zeal, his patience 
in the most trying circumstances and his skill. 
He operated most extensively in Schuylkill 
County before the Civil War and diiring the 
progress of the struggle spent much of his 
time in Washington in connection with legis- 
lation bearing upon the development and pro- 
tection of the industry which his magnificent 
efforts had created. After the Civil War he 
was chosen president of the Locust Mountain 
Coal Company, the Coal Ridge Coal Com- 
pany and a number of other corporations con- 
nected with the operations of the Lehigh Val- 
ley Railroad. These, and other strenuous and 
exacting activities he continued until he had 
reached the age of seventy, when he retired 
from active business to devote his time to his- 
torical research and literary work. 

In this extensive field he was as earnest and 
as persistent as he w^as in the charitable and 
philanthropic works with which his name was 
associated. He had a wonderful knowledge of 
local affairs of interest to Philadelphia, and 
his collections of books, prints and data on 
this subject w^as both rare and extensive. He 
was one of the most prominent, and most ac- 



tive members of the Historical Society of 
I'cnnsylvania and of the American Philosophical 
Society and his association with a large num- 
ber of scientific and literary organizations was 
always active and in many instances acute. 
On the whole he was a most remarkable man, 
and one of whom the city of Philadelphia is 
very and justly proud. 

Mr. Wood's father, the Rev. Charles Wood, 
was one of the most popular and esteemed 
clergymen that ever held a pastorate in Phila- 
delphia. Born in Brooklyn, New York, June 
3, 1851, and son of John T. and May (Lyon) 
Wood, he was educated at Haverford College 
and Princeton Theological Seminary. In the 
former institution he secured the degree of 
Bachelor of Arts in 1870, and three years 
later that of Master of Arts. He graduated 
from Princeton in 1873 and in 1885 was given 
the degree of Doctor of Divinity. After his 
graduation from Princeton he was ordained a 
minister of the Presbyterian Church and be- 
came pastor of the Central Church, Buffalo, 
N. Y., in which he remained until 1878. His 
next pastorate was the Fourth Church of Al- 
bany, N. Y., and from there he came to Ger- 
mantown. Pa., to accept the pastorate of the 
First Church. He remained in Germantown 
from 1886 to 1896, and in the latter year be- 
came pastor of the Second Presbyterian 
Church, Philadelphia, in which he continued 
his ministration until 1908. Since this latter 
date he has been pastor of the Church of the 
Covenant of Washington, D. C. He is known 
as an author of unquestionable repute, the 
chief of his works being "Saunterings In 
Europe," 1882; "Beginning Life," 1887; 
"Friends and Foes of Youth," 1898, and "Some 
Moral and Religious' Aspects of the War," 
1915. These indicate a high standard of lit- 
erary ability, keen and well reasoned philoso- 
phy and a large acquaintance with the more 
serious problems and events of the day. Dur- 
ing his connection with Philadelphia, in the 
city proper as well as in its well-known suburb 
of Germantown, Rev. Mr. Wood's great abili- 
ties as a pulpit orator and as a lecturer were 
largely availed of and many audiences: through- 



388 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



out the city have been thrilled and delighted 
at intervals by the magic and inspiration of his 
oratory. 

Morris Wood, son of one of these remark- 
able men and a grandson of the other, was 
born on Greehill Farm, Overbrook, Philadel- 
phia, November 19, 1885. He received a lib- 
eral education at Lawrenceville, New Jersey, 
and this was supplemented by private tuition, 
and has been further extended and amplified 
by deep reading and close contact with men of 
affairs. In his case, as in many others, heredity 
has laid its imprint and many of the sterlmg 
and remarkable qualities of sire and grandsire 
are paramount in him, although ostentation, 
or self-appreciation, is not even a remote fea- 
ture of his personality. His real estate trans- 
actions, which are mainly devoted to Over- 
brook and its neighborhood, where he is a 
large owner of real estate himself, occupy most 
of his time while finance, in which he is largely 
and substantially interested, comes also in for 
a large amount of his attention. Apart from 
business, shooting and fishing are his hobbies, 
and in this connection he is an active and 
prominent member of the Philadelphia Gun 
Club and the Overbrook Golf Club. He also 
holds membership in the Racquet Club, Phila- 
delphia, the Philadelphia Country Club and 
the San Antonio (Texas) Country Club. 

Mr. Wood was married in the First Presby- 
terian Church, Philadelphia, June 10, 1914, to 
Mildred Grice, whose father was the pioneer 
newspaper man of Texas, owner of the San 
Antonio Press, the leading and most conse- 
quential daily. His sister, Mrs. W. Logan 
McCoy, resides in the old Morris mansion at 
Overbrook, and Mr. Wood also lives in that 
exclusive suburb, his residence address being 
6380 City Avenue. He is a Republican in 
politics, but has never aspired to public office, 
nor identified himself closely with any faction 
of the Republican party. He is keenly inter- 
ested in the welfare and advancement of Phila- 
delphia and is ever alert to give moral and 
material support to any movement in this 
direction. 



CHARLEMAGNE TOWER 
T AWYER, diplomat and capitalist, Charle- 
magne Tower w^as born in Philadelphia, 
April 17, 1848, and is son of Charlemagne 
Tower, eighth in descent from John Tower, 
who emigrated from Hingham, Norfolk, Eng- 
land, to Massachusetts. Mr. Tower received 
his preparatory education in the Military 
Academy, New Haven, Connecticut ; Phillips' 
Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire, and en- 
tered Harvard University, from which he was 
graduated as Bachelor of Arts, in 1872. He 
pursued graduate studies in history, foreign 
languages and literature in Europe, 1872-1876, 
and afterward studied law in the office of Will- 
iam Henry Rawle in Philadelphia. He received 
the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from 
Lafayette College, the University of Chicago, 
and the Universities of Glasgow and St. An- 
drew's'. 

Mr. Tower was admitted to the Philadelphia 
Bar in 1878, and in 1882 removed to Duluth, 
Minnesota, where he was president of the 
Duluth & Iron Range Railroad and managing 
director of the Minnesota Iron Company. He 
returned to Philadelphia in 1887, and has since 
made his home there, owning large interests 
and being officer and director in various large 
corporations. He began his diplomatic career 
in 1897, upon his appointment by President 
McKinley as' envoy extraordinary and minister 
plenipotentiary to Austria-FIungary. He was 
ambassador to Russia from 1899 to 1902, and 
to Germany from 1902 to 1908. He is director 
of the Fidelity Trust Company and the Com- 
mercial Trust Company of Philadelphia, is 
manager of the Western Saving Fund Society 
of Philadelphia and has many other corporate 
connections. He is author of a two-volume 
work on The Marquis de La Fayette in the 
American Revolution, 1895 (Lippincott). He 
received from the French Government the 
decoration of grand officer of the Legion 
d'Honneur, and was for several years a trustee 
of the University of Pennsylvania, and is a 
member of the American Philosophical Society 
of Philadelphia. His office address is 228 South 
Seventh Street, Philadelphia. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



389 




XJATHAN T. FOLWELL, president of the 
well-known firm of Fohvell Brothers and 
Company, dress goods merchants, Philadel- 
])hia, was' born in that city, March 21, 1847. 
his father being Thomas J. Folwell and his 
mother Lydia C. (Hazelton) Folwell. He re- 
ceived his education in the public schools of 
his native city and also in Norristown, Pa. 

y\v. Folwell is also president of the Keystone 
Telephone Company, the Bank of Commerce, 
the Girard Life Insurance Company and the 
Manufacturers' Club, and is a director of the 
Fidelity Life Company and the Union National 
Bank. He is' also associated with the Mercy 
Hospital, and the clulxs in which he holds mem- 
bership are the ^Manufacturers' and the Fgypt 
]\Iills, both of Philadelphia. He is of the good 
old Quaker stock, so long and so beneficently 
identified with Philadelphia, and has always 
been a stalwart Republican in politics. He 
was married to Sarah E. Harned, and has two 
sons' living. P. D. Folwell and \\'. H. Folwell, 



2d. His residence address is 2008 Spring Gar- 
den Street, Philadelphia, and his business ad- 
dress 625 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. 

JOSEPH L DORAN 
]V/f R. DORAN was born in Philadelphia Janu- 
ary 17, 1844. Receiving his elementary 
education in the private schools, he entered the 
University of Pennsylvania, where he took a 
])artial course in the class of 1864, college 
(lci)artment. He then became a law student in 
the office of Hon. John C. Bullitt, and was 
admitted to the Bar in 1865. Two years later 
he was- admitted to the Supreme Court of Penn- 
sylvania. In 1909 he was admitted to the 
Supreme Court of the United States. 

In 18S0 Mr. Doran became identified with 
the coal and iron interests in Virginia and West 
X^irginia. He is now the general counsel of the 
Norfolk and Western Railway Company. 

He is author of a work upon "Our Fishing 
Rights," which disclosed exhaustive investiga- 
tion and careful analysis of the subject, and 
which at the date of its publication in 1888 
elicited favorable comment from the leading 
newspapers. 

In 1876 he read before the American Social 
Science Convention an exhaustive paper on 
"Building Associations." 

His two historical addresses are an address 
on "Sir Walter Raleigh" and "Sir George 
Yeardley and His Voyage of 1609-1610 to Vir- 
ginia." 

He presented to the Medical Department of 
the University of Pennsylvania the Francis 
Kinloch Huger Medallion. 

He is connected with many legal and social 
organizations, including the Rittenhouse Club, 
the Philadelphia Country Club, Merion Cricket 
Club, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, So- 
ciety of Colonial Wars, Pennsylvania Society 
of Colonial Governors, Law Association of 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Society of New 
York. 

His residence address is' 120 South Nine- 
teenth Street, Philadelphia, and his office 
address is 1201 Commercial Trust Building, 
Philadelphia. 



390 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




FRANCIS WAYLAND AVER 



'JpO BE head of the greatest advertising 
agency in the world is, in itself, a proud 
distinction, but far prouder the boast and far 
more substantial the claim that such an envi- 
able position has been attained by persistent 
effort, by unimpeachable integritv and bv hon- 
est toil. Such is the position of Francis Way- 
land Ayer, and such could be the well estab- 
lished claim and the laudable and legitimate 
boast of that gentleman if boasting, and even 
boasting of what any man in public life in the 
United States might well feel proud, were 
within the scope of his weaknesses, as it most 
unquestionably is not. 

The man who built up such a vast and ever- 
increasing business from what mav be re- 



garded as the absurd capital of $250, was born 
in Lee, Berkshire County, Mass., in 1848. His 
father, Nathan W. Ayer, was a graduate of 
P>rown University, who, after his graduation, 
Avith high honors, devoted his talents to teach- 
ing in a private school. 

Nathan's son Francis Wayland Ayer was 
educated in the schools of western New York 
and later took a partial course in the Univer- 
sity of Rochester, N. Y. Meanwhile, in 1867, 
Nathan Ayer, who was a native of Connecti- 
cut, sought a new field for his labors in Penn- 
sylvania, and the following year Francis Way- 
land Ayer followed him into the Keystone 
State, making Philadelphia his objective. 

A stranger in the Quaker City, without 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



391 



friends and but with few acquaintances, he did 
not lind anytliing like remunerative employ- 
ment as readily as he liad anticipated and as a 
temporary exi)edient accepted an engagement 
as advertising solicitor for a religious weekly 
newspaper. His remuneration in this field was 
necessarily meager but he learned experience, 
and while engaged in it his mind ever alert to 
possibilities evolved the idea, which later re- 
duced to practice, and wdiich led to the crea- 
tion of the vast and ever increasing business 
that he now controls. About this time he w^as 
joined by his father in Philadelphia, and on 
April 1, 1869, the launching of the modest little 
hrm of N. W. Ayer and Son was announced. 
Pos'sibly some of his friends associating the 
venture with the day, deemed it an All Fools' 
day enterprise, but it turned out to be dia- 
metrically the reverse. 

The house in which the x\yers — father and 
son — began business was 530 Arch Street, and 
the capital at their disposal was exactly $250. 
But almost from the start success crowned 
their efforts' and success was secured only by 
hard work and steady, honest and persistent 
endeavor. 

In the fall of 1869 this increasing business 
justified removal to more spacious premises, 
at 7ZZ Sanson! Street. In 1873 the senior 
member of the firm, X. W. Ayer, died, and the 
following year George O. Wallace was taken 
into partnership by Francis' W. Ayer and con- 
tinued in the business until his death in 1887. 

In 1876 the Ayer business was removed to 
the Times Building, corner of Eighth and 
Chestnut Streets, wdiere it was conducted for 
twenty-seven years. In 1903 extensive prem- 
ises at the Mariner and Merchants' Building, 
at Third and Chestnut Streets, were secured, 
and this is now the location of the firm, wdiere 
it not only occujiies' several floors but where 
it even has been extended into adjoining 
buildings. Starting without any employees, 
the firm now has nearly 400. 

The Ayers' definition of advertising agent is 
"One who creates, develops, distributes and 
cares for advertising other than his own." 



Iheir famous "open contract" plan has com- 
pletely revolutionized methods of advertising, 
transferring as it does, the agent from a can- 
vasser wdiose chief concern was to get an order 
into the specially informed, alert and trust- 
worthy man who has something worth while 
to sell. In the first year of the firm the busi- 
ness was v$l 5,000. Now its yearly payments to 
publishers amounts' to the enormous sum of 

$5,oa),ooo. 



J^INCOLN KNIGHT PASSMORE, vice- 
president of the Penn Mutual Life Insur- 
ance Company, was born on a farm in Cecil 
County, Maryland, on September 2, 1850. His 
father was Ellis Pusey Passmore, and his 
mother, before marriage, Mary Lincoln. 

Mr. Passmore received his elementary edu- 
cation at home and in the public schools, and 
this was supplemented by a course in the State 
Normal School of Millersville, Pennsylvania, 
from which he graduated. In June, 1874, he 
came to Philadelphia and w-as engaged as clerk 
in the well-known firm of Peter Wright & 
Sons, 307 Walnut Street. 

After remaining with the firm over eight 
years, during w^hich time he was promoted to 
the responsil)le position of manager, Mr. Pass- 
more resigned in January, 1882, to engage in 
business, becoming a member of the firm of R. 
D. A\'ork & Co., afterwards Passmore & Co., 
and still later J. M. Parr & Son, general grain 
exporters, Philadelphia, New York and Balti- 
more. After a connection of some twenty-one 
years with this firm he retired in June, 1903, 
to become vice-president of the Penn ^^lutual. 

Mr. Passmore is also a director of the Bank 
of North America and of the Security Trust 
Company, and is vice president of the Philadel- 
phia Bourse. He is a member of the Union 
League of Philadelphia, and his clubs are 
the Germantown Cricket, the Philadelphia 
Cricket, the Huntingdon Valley Country and 
the Germantown Automobile. 

Mr. Passmore, whose recreations are walk- 
ing and golfing, has never had political am- 



392 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



bitions nor the desire for public ofice, and is 
connected with no political or party organiza- 
tions, although he is a staunch Republican. 
The fact that he is a leading member of the 
Society of Friends may possibly account for 
this. 

In April, 1890, he married Ellen F. Faxon, 
of Quincy, Mass., by whom he has had two 
sons, John T. Faxon and Lincoln Alan Pass- 
more. His home address is 2815 Queen 
Street, Germantown, and his business address. 
Sixth and AValnut Streets. Philadelphia. 




TAMES F. SULLIVAN, the well-known Phil- 
adelphia financier and president of the Mar- 
ket Street National Bank, represents a family 
that was dominant in the County Cork, Ire- 
land, centuries before the battle of Hastings 
was fought. 

In the days when Brian Boru was Ard Righ, 
or High King of Ireland, the O'Sullivans Beare 
w'ere rulers of a large patrimony in Ireland's 



most southern county, and the history of that 
county shows them associated and identified 
with almost every great epoch in the province 
of Munster since the remotest dates. ]\Ir. Sul- 
livan is the son of John Curtin Sullivan and a 
grandson of John Upton Sipple, attorney-at- 
law. 

Mr. Sullivan, the representative of this fam- 
ily of Irish chiefs, was born at Grange, between 
the towns of Mallow and Butteram, in this 
County of Cork. He was educated in public 
schools, and also by private tutors, and came 
to America when very 3'Oung. 

Settling down in Philadelphia, he began what 
has' been an honored and successful life as clerk 
in a wholesale white goods and notions estab- 
lishment. Active, energetic, ambitious and 
alert, he succeeded almost from the start, and 
in 1866, in partnership with his brother, Jere- 
miah J. Sullivan, established the extensive 
white goods house of Sullivan & Brother, on 
Alarket Street, in the Quaker City. For forty- 
one years this was one of the leading houses 
in the city, but in 1907 Mr. Sullivan retired 
from it to devote his energies, his ability and 
his experience exclusively to finance. 

In this field of endeavor Mr. Sullivan was as 
successful as in that of commercialism. He 
has been largely and actively identified with 
various underwritings, reorganizations', pas- 
senger railway consolidations and other enter- 
l)rises, both in Philadelphia and other cities, 
and has made a reputation as widespread as it 
is deserved. Strict business principles' have 
been his standard, and his incentive throughout 
a long and useful life, and their application has 
l)rought him wealth, popularity and honor. 

Besides being president of the Market Street 
National Bank he was vice-president and 
director of the Midvale Steel Company for 
twenty-seven years ; director of the Real Estate 
Trust Company ; of the Tradesmen's National 
Bank ; of the Finance Company of Pennsylva- 
nia ; of the Green and Coates Streets Passenger 
Raihvay Company; of the Frankford and 
Southwark f'assenger Railway Company; of 
the Guarantee Trust Company ; of the Penn- 
sylvania Warehousing and Safe Deposit Com- 



77//: STORY 01' PHILADELPHIA 



393 



pany, and of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation 
Company. 

He is also a director of the Mercantile 
Library, a trustee of the Catholic High School, 
a member of the Historical Society of Pennsyl- 
\ania, a director of the Pennsylvania Museum 
and School of Industrial Art and the Appren- 
tices' Library. 

In 1906 he went to Rome and secured the 
first contract for armor plate given by the 
"Royal Italian Navy" to America. 

His clubs are the Contemporary, the Art, the 
Country and the Alerion Cricket, of Philadel- 
]ihia, and the Radnor Hunt. 

Mr. Sullivan was married in 1886 to Lulu 
Romaine Nichols. His residence is southwest 
corner Twenty-first and Walnut Streets', Phil- 
adelphia, and Radnor, Pa, and his office address 
is ^larket Street National Bank. 

JOSEPH W. KENWORTHY, who ranks 
worthily at the Bar of Philadelphia, is one 
of the city's self-made lawyers of whom there 
are others of note. 

He was the business manager of a manu- 
facturing corporation when he started to study 
law, and he supported himself by his' skill as 
an expert accountant during the preparatory 
studies for the Bar. 

Mr. Kenworthy was ])orn in Delaware 
County, the descendant of an old English fam- 
ily. He made his own way early in life, and 
at the age of 21 was the superintendent of a 
business corporation in ]^Iaryland. Soon after 
he came to Philadelphia, beginning his law 
studies in the office of Reuben O. Moon. He 
was admitted to the Bar in 1889. 

Early in his career as a lawyer he became 
a firm adherent of the principles of good citi- 
zenship and has always been a conscientious 
supporter of its high standards. In the in- 
fancy of the Municipal League, which labored 
valiently in the cause of good government, he 
became one of its earnest and unselfish sup- 
porters. He was made chairman of the execu- 
tive committee of the organization in the 
Twenty-fourth Ward, in which he then lived, 
and gave his time and devotion to it without 
reward. 



It was during this period that his attention 
was attracted to Joseph Gilfillan, then a ship- 
l)ing clerk in a department store, and after- 
ward vSheriff of the county. Mr. Kenworthy 
was a lecturer on law in the business' classes 
of the Young Men's Christian Association 
which were attended by Mr. Gilfillan, who 
showed aptness for legal learning, was per- 
suaded to take up a course in law, and become 
a student in Mr. Kenworthy's office. 

It was in a similar way that D. Clarence 
(iibbony, secretary of the Law and Order 
Society, then an agent of the society, was in- 
duced to take up the study of law. Both of 
Mr. Kenworthy's proteges passed the Bar ex- 
amination with credit. Both were started on 
their careers in the same way and with the 
same encouraging influence of Mr. Kenworthy. 

It seemed curious that they should be op- 
posing candidates in later years in a contest 
awakened by a strong public sentiment to 
wrest the office of sheriff from the control of 
professional politicians. 

Mr. Kenworthy was an active influence in 
the recent organization of the Belmont Trust 
Company, on Baltimore Avenue, near Fiftieth 
Street. He resigned the vice-presidency of 
the company on account of the demands of his 
practice. 

Mr. Kenworthy is an active Mason, a mem- 
ber of Pennsylvania Lodge, F. & A. M., Past 
High Priest of University Chapter and Past 
Commander of Philadelphia Commandery of 
the Knights Templar. He is a member of St. 
Paul's Presbyterian Church. 

Among other members of the Philadelphia 
Bar who were admitted to practice from Mr. 
Kenworthy's office were Percy M. Chandler, 
now of the banking house of Chandler Broth- 
ers, and Thomas J. Norris, Es'q., and Freder- 
ick Martin. Esq., and P. Mowitz, Esq., and 
C. Bentley Allen. 

Mr. Kenworthy is associated in the practice 
of the law with his daughter, Caroline K. Ken- 
worthy, a graduate of the Law School of the 
University of Pennsylvania, and member of 
the Bar of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania 
and active in practice. They are assisted by 
another daughter of ^Ir. Kenworthy, Joan W. 
Kenworthy, who is about completing the study 
of the law in the Law School of Temple 
College. 



394 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




MARTIN REA GANO 



PROMINENTLY identified with the prog- 
ress and development of the industries of 
Philadelphia is Martin Rea Gano, president 
and chairman of the Board of Directors of 
Gano, Aloore & Co., Inc., one of the leading 
coal corporations of the city. Born in New- 
port, Ohio, and the son of William Gano and 
Fanny Rea, Air. Gano received a sound edu- 
cation in the public schools of his state and 
acquired at an early age an ai)titude for busi- 
ness which was one of the chief factors in an 
eminently successful business career. 

The extent of that business and of the varied 
interests and enterprises with which he is con- 



nected is well illustrated and emphasized by 
his intimate association with at least a half- 
dozen Philadelphia companies, each a leader in 
its i)articular line. Besides being president of 
the (iano, Moore & Co., Inc., firm, he is presi- 
dent of the American S. S. Corporation, chair- 
man of the Board of Directors of the Philadel- 
phia and South American Shipping Company, 
senior partner in the Gano Bros. S. S. Com- 
pany, and sole owner of the Gano Export & 
Import Company. 

With such large and varied interests to at- 
tend to, Air. Gano is ordinarily known as a 
very busy man ; but this business is reduced 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



395 



to the very minimum of effort by the excellent 
and comprehensive systems that prevail in 
each, and the existence of which is due to his 
early training and to the application and de- 
velopment of that training- in the school of 
liractical experience. But the routine of l)usi- 
ness, diversified though it may be, by no means 
limits the activities and efforts of Mr. Gano. 
Charitable, educational and other similar in- 
stitutions claim a good deal of his energies and 
a large measure of material support. He is a 
member of the Pennsylvania Academy of the 
Fine Arts, of the Philadelphia Chamber of 
Commerce, and of the Chamber of Commerce 
oi the United States. He is also vice-president 
of the Ohio Society of Philadelphia, and a 
member of the Philadelphia Consistory 
Thirty-second Degree Masons, and the Lu Lu 
Temple, and of the Lu Lu Temple Automobile 
Club. 

Mr. Gano is a Republican in politics and his 
religion is Episcopalian. He is a member of 
the Union League, and is also a member of the 
Manufacturers' and Art clubs. His recreations 
are motoring, golf and yachting, and in this 
connection he is a member of the Overbrook 
and Seaview golf clubs, of the Chelsea Yacht 
Club of Atlantic City, and of the Whitehall 
and Bankers clubs, New York. He was mar- 
ried in Marietta, Ohio, on September 16, 1903, 
to Ethel Pape, and has two children, Charles 
William, aged 12, and Jean, aged 10. His resi- 
dence address is Overbrook, Pa., and his busi- 
ness address Land Title Building, Phila- 
delphia. 

W1LLL\M MALCOLM BUNN was born in 
Philadelphia and came as' a New Year's 
gift. His father was Albert Gesner Bunn, a 
spinner in a cotton mill, and his mother, Re- 
becca Henry. 

The earlier part of his education was re- 
ceived in the public schools of the city, but at 
the age of eleven these studies were inter- 
rupted and he went to w^ork in the mill in 
which his father was employed. There he 
stayed three years, and then went to Havana, 



N. Y., where an vmcle, the Rev. Peter S. Ruth, 
an Episcopal clergyman, conducted an acad- 
emy. Under his tuition young Bunn acquired 
a thoroughly good education, and was noted 
for a remarkable faculty of quick acquirement. 

Leaving school at the age of sixteen, he en- 
tered the employment of John Frost, a wood 
engraver of Philadelphia, and shortly after 
established a wood engraving business for him- 
self. When the Civil War broke out the in- 
stincts of patriotism prompted him to enlist in 
the service of his country, although not nine- 
teen years of age. He joined Company F, 
Seventy-second Pennsylvania Volunteers and, 
distinguishing himself from the iirst, was 
shortly created a corporal. He was severely 
wounded at Savage Station, \'a., on June 29, 
1862, and was subsequently taken prisoner and 
confined for some months in Richmond 
prison. When convalescent he was exchanged 
and returned to Philadelphia. Here he suf- 
fered a relapse of his illness and on his recov- 
ery was honorably discharged from the army. 

lUit a life of inactivity, while his country re- 
mained in the throes of a death struggle, was 
repugnant to him and he returned to the army 
as Sutler's clerk, in which capacity he did good 
and faithful service. 

In partnership with his brother Mr. Bunn, 
when he returned to civil life, entered the wood 
carving business, which prospered to a marked 
degree. Identifying himself with politics he 
was elected in 1866 a delegate from the Six- 
teenth Ward to the City Republican Conven- 
tion. The following year he was nominated 
to Common Council, but, to heal a party feud, 
withdrew. The next year he was elected to 
the State Legislature, and was re-elected the 
succeeding term. 

Mr. Bunn's next public ofiice was that of 
Register of Wills, to which he was elected by 
a large majority. 

In 1875 he was elected Guardian of the Poor 
and re-elected in 1878, but when the position 
became vacant again declined to be a candi- 
date. Meanwhile he had repeatedly served as 
delegate to National, State and County con- 
ventions and his standing and influence in the 



396 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



party politics of the day were admittedly and 
deservedly high. 

In 1878 Mr. Bunn became editor and pro- 
prietor of the Sunday Transcript and did ex- 
cellent work in defense of popular rights. He 
remained at the editorial desk until appointed 
Governor of the Territory of Idaho, in 1886, 
by his personal representative and friend. His 
record in the gubernatorial chair was most 
creditable. Under his regime the Territory 
made giant strides toward prosperity, and 
among the acts which he induced the Legisla- 
ture to pass was one disfranchising polygam- 
ous Mormons, the hardest blow that Mormon- 
ism ever received. This act made the Terri- 
tory Republican and a State and gave the Re- 
publican party two United States Senators. 

Mr. Bunn was married in 1870 to Cathanne 
Myers, and has one son, Berton S. Bunn. He 
lives at 1420 Poplar Street, is a Republican in 
politics, and in religion a Protestant Episco- 
palian. 

£LIHU C. IRVIN, president of the Fire 
Association of Philadelphia, is one of the 
country's best known fire insurance authori- 
ties. Not only is he an expert in the business 
of insurance, but he is widely known for his 
intimate knowledge of fire-fighting facilities 
and fire prevention methods. 

Mr. Irvin is one of the staunchest "fire pre- 
ventionists" in America. For many years he 
has led national crusades against lax fire pre- 
vention facilities, and it is' largely due to Mr. 
Irvin's persistent campaigns against this lax- 
ity that many cities throughout the country 
have adopted safer and more efficient methods 
of fire prevention. 

As head of the National Association of 
Fire Underwriters Mr. Irvin has taken con- 
spicuous part in the elimination of fire haz- 
ards, and it is generally agreed among business 
men througout the country that the Associa- 
tion's activities in this direction have saved 
millions of dollars in fire losses. 

Mr. Irvin was born in Perry County, near 
Harrisburg, Pa., Alay 22, 1839. He received a 
liberal education in the public school and after- 



ward taught school himself at Duncannon, 
Pa. Resigning this appointment, he became 
associated, as manager, with the Duncannon 
Iron Works, with which he w^as connected 
many years. 

In 1869 he began a strenuous and successful 
career in the insurance business' by becoming 
special agent in Pennsylvania of the Germania 
Fire Insurance Company of New York. He 
held this responsible position, in which he 
gained a large and valuable experience, until 
1874, when he became general agent for the 
well-known Phoenix Company of Hartford. 

With headquarters in Philadelphia, his ter- 
ritory extended from Pennsylvania to the Gulf 
of Mexico, and his incumbency of the office 
involved a large amount of travel, personal at- 
tention and long continued alertness'. The 
business grew and expanded year after year. 

By this time he had established a reputation 
recognized and appreciated all over the coun- 
try and as a result he was elected in January, 
1884, vice-president of the Fire Association of 
Philadelphia. In 1891 he succeeded to the 
presidency. 

Mr. Irvin was instrumental in organizing 
the Middle Department, of which he was made 
first president, and served three terms. He 
was elected president of the National Board 
of Fire Underwriters and served two years. 

JOHN WHITE GEARY, banker and broker, 
Philadelphia, was born in Harrisburg, 
Pennsylvania, February 22, 1869, and is the 
son of General John White Geary, at one time 
governor of Pennsylvania. He was educated 
in the public schools and later entered Haver- 
ford College, Pa., the University of Pennsyl- 
vania and Harvard University, from each of 
which he graduated. He married Mary de 
Forest Harris'on, daughter of Alfred Craven 
Harrison. After leaving college he engaged in 
the financial business in Philadelphia, and is 
now a member of the firm of William H. New- 
bold's Son & Company, bankers and brokers. 
He is a member of the Rittenhouse, Philadel- 
phia Cricket, Corinthian Yacht and Union 
Leagfue clubs 



THE STORY OF I'l 1 1 LADllLPIUA 



?>% 




JOHN B. STETSON, Jr. 



npHE record made 1:)y Philadelphia soldiers in 
the great war in which Germany sought 
the domination of the world, and was defeated 
in her aspirations for universal su]:)remacy, was 
one of which the Quaker City felt justly and 
legitimately ])rond. While every man who rep- 
resented her in the blood-sodden fields of 
IHanders and of northern France was a hero in 
the broadest and most inspiring sense of the 
word, there were some who stood forth con- 
spicuously for personal liravery, for strict and 
absolute devotion to the great cause for which 
they fought, and for all the essential atributes 
that go to make up the ardent, the earnest and 



self-sacrificing patriot. The names of these 
brave and noble men stand emblazoned on the 
roll of fame, and generations yet to come will 
honor themselves by boasting of their deeds, 
glorying in their records and perpetuating their 
memories. 

Lieutenant John B. Stetson, Jr., is attached 
to the aviation branch of the United States 
ser\ice overseas, he has made a most enviable 
record for daring and initiative. All the details 
of aircraft, all the mechanism of these wonder- 
ful machines that have caused such a revolu- 
tion in warfare, were long familiar to him be- 
fore he put his knowledge into telling practical 



398 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



effect on the battlefields of France, for before 
he had gone "over there" such knowledge was' 
recognized and appreciated by the War Depart- 
ment authorities by his appointment to the re- 
sponsible position of Instructor of Aviation. 

Mr. Stetson had volunteered for this service 
even before the United States declared war on 
Germany. With a perception justified and em- 
phasized by subsequent events, he had forseen 
that the entry of the United States into the 
world war would only be a question of time, 
and ambitious' of "doing his bit" for his coun- 
try, and being in that war from the start, he 
eagerly volunteered his services in that arm of 
the national defense where such services would 
be most useful, and these were gladly accepted 
and immediately availed of by the War Depart- 
ment. 

When the United States declared war, and 
for a long period afterwards, there was strictly 
speaking, no aviation service and the machines 
available for training were few and of some- 
what the crudes't type. This great disadvan- 
tage did not dampen the zeal or lessen the 
energy of Mr. Stetson. He went on training 
men for the service all the same, and in a com- 
paratively short time had a small but efficient 
corps of aviators initiated into all the mysteries 
of aircraft. The work was necessarily slow 
and tedious, and often discouraging, but Mr. 
Stetson's persistent efiforts ultimately spelled 
success. Having accomplished all this he 
volunteered for service abroad. His desires 
and ambitions in this respect were gratified 
and afterwards the work he did for his country 
and humanity, was done amidst the shell-torn 
and bullet-rent air of Northern France. That 
work, to repeat, was' excellent and admirable 
in every essential and soon gained for Mr. 
Stetson the imprint of popular approval and 
the fullest and Avarmest appreciation of his 
fellow citizens of Philadelphia. 

Mr. Stetson was born in Philadelphia, Oc- 
tober 14, 1884, and is the son of the late John 
B. Stetson, the well-known manufacturer and 
])hilanthropist. and of Elizabeth (Shindler) 
Stetson. 



He was educated in the Penn Charter School, 
Philadelphia, and later entered Harvard Uni- 
versity, where he underwent a special course 
in anthropology, and from which he graduated 
with honors'. 

Since that period his life was uneventful 
until he joined the United States aviation 
corps, and did and saw such thrilling aviation 
service abroad. 

He is a director of the John B. Stetson Com- 
pany, with whose vast and continually growing 
interests he is intimately identified, and is also 
president of the Defiance Manufacturing Com- 
pany. He is' besides president of the Board 
of Trustees of John B. Stetson University, 
DeLand, Florida ; in a member of the Society 
of American Engineers, and is an active and 
prominent member of the Masonic Order. 

His recreations are many and various. All 
out-of-door sports strongly appeal to him, and 
all athletic exercises find in him a keen ad- 
mirer and a liberal patron. 

Mr. Stetson, who in religion is a Baptist, 
was' married in Wakefield, Massachusetts, in 
1906, to Miss J. F. Carlisle, and has four chil- 
dren, John B. Stetson, 3d, Stuart Carlisle Stet- 
son, Thomazine Stetson and Jane Stetson. 

His residence address is Ashbourne, Pa. 



HON. JOHN C. BELL 

JOHN CROMWELL BELL, born October 3, 
1861 ; graduated from Central High School, 
Philadelphia, in 1880, with degree of A. B., and 
from the University of Pennsylvania in 1864 
with degree of LL. B. ; he also holds an hon- 
orary degree of LL. D. from Temple Univer- 
sity. Appointed District Attorney by the 
Judges of Philadelphia County in 1903, and 
elected to office ensuing year. Declined renom- 
ination. A\'as Attorney General of Pennsyl- 
vania by appointment of Governor Tener, 1911 
to 1915 ; and in 1911 was also elected a Trustee 
of the University of Pennsylvania. 



THE STORY OF I'/IILADELPHIA 



399 




HENRY STETSON 



TT IS very seldom that sons of rich fathers' 
ever make a great success in business life, 
but an exception is made in the life of G. Henry 
Stetson, son of the late John B. Stetson and 
Elizabeth Shindler Stetson, who was lK)rn at 
Elkins Park. July 30, 1887. After receiving an 
elementary education in the Haverford Gram- 
mar School and Penn Charter School, Phila- 
delphia, he learned all the details of hat making 
in his father's' factory, which gave him a 
thorough business education, which enabled 
him to master not only the hat making indus- 
try, but gave him an insight into general com-" 
mercial activities. 



Pie has many financial interests and his oil 
interests are numerous and extensive. He is 
financially connected with the Niles Press 
Company, printing establishment at Ninth and 
Sansom Streets. He is a director of the De- 
fiance Manufacturing Company, and is on the 
1)oard of directors of many other institutions. 

Mr. Stetson is likewise a trustee of the John 
1). Stetson University, and a Mason of the 
thirty-second degree, associated with Philadel- 
phia Lodge No. 444. 

His recreation is chiefly fishing, and his 
clubs are the Huntingdon Valley, the Manu- 
facturers', the Rose Tree Hunt and the Edge- 



400 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



wood Country. He is a member of the Egypt 
Mills Club, and is also connected with the 
Huntingdon Valley Hunting Club. In military 
affairs he is captain of the Albany Birgescsers, 
a well-known military organization of New 
York, and he devotes considerable of his time 
doing his bit in the world's war. 

To give an idea of Mr. Stetson's great busi- 
ness interests a review of the life of his father, 
the late John B. Stetson, follows: John B. 
Stetson was born in (Jrange, New Jersey, May 
5, 1830. His father, Stephen Stetson, a man of 
sturdy English descent, was a hatter, and 
young Stetson also learned that trade. At this 
he continued in the New Jersey town until 
1865, when he decided to begin his life career, 
afterwards so signally successful, in Philadel- 
phia. 

With no capital, but with plenty of grit and 
the set determination to make his way upward 
in the world, he began a modest business on 
his' own account. In a single room of an un- 
pretentious building he toiled daily at his 
trade. This trade moulded upon that strict 
honesty and directed by almost ceaseless en- 
deavor, grew apace and in less than a year Mr. 
Stetson removed to more commodious quar- 
ters on Eourth above Chestnut Street. The 
reputation of the Stetson-made hat had mean- 
while spread throughout the city, and far be- 
yond it, and the natural result was a steadily 
growing business. To meet this Mr. Stetson 
added another story to the building. Two 
years later the firm of John B. Stetson was 
organized, and within two years from that date 
the trade of the firm reached $80,000 a year. 

In 1869, traveling salesmen were put on the 
road, but beyond taking orders from a grow- 
ing army of dealers they had comparatively 
little to do. The Stetson hat sold itself and 
has' continued selling itself to this day. 

The growth of sales became simply enor- 
mous and the $80,000 per year output of the 
early seventies is dwarfed into almost utter 
significance by the $11,000,000 which repre- 
sents the annual value of the Stetson product 
in the year of 1917. Energy and enterprise 
were and are prime factors in the wonderful 



development of a trade begun so unauspicious, 
but the ever-abiding factor and incentive is' the 
value of the article itself. That invariably is 
the best advertisement, for in the last analysis 
that and that alone counts with the public. 

The workmen and their families are provided 
with all the benefits of loan building societies 
and various other beneficial societies, and 
there has also been established a social union 
modeled on the lines of the Young Men's 
Christian Association, a Sunday School, a kin- 
dergarten, a dispensary hospital, a militia bat- 
talion of several companies, under National 
Guard regulations, and various other institu- 
tions, all tending to the betterment, benefit and 
social pleasures of the workmen and their 
families. 

In 1872 the Stetson plant was removed to 
Fourth Street and Montgomery Avenue, Phila- 
delphia. There building after building was 
erected, and now the extensive site is one of 
the industrial wonders of the city. Thousands 
of contented workmen are engaged in the 
monster plant, which from every essential 
point of view stands foremost amongst the 
best regulated industrial establishments, if not 
in the world. 

John B. Stetson was the founder of the town 
of DeLand, Florida, and held a controlling in- 
terest in nearly every one of its industries. 
He also has a vast tract of real estate, includ- 
ing many orange groves, in which he took 
special interest and pride. In 1886 he heard of 
a school there needing assistance and his true 
and inate spirit of philanthropy and usefulness 
was appealed to. The result was that he aided 
the institution lavishly, and that later on it 
developed into the John B. Stetson University. 
This is today one of the mos't flourishing and 
best managed educational institutions of the 
south, with buildings that cost $500,000, with 
a very superior faculty and with an enrollment 
of students that compares favorably with that 
of any college or university below the Mason 
and Dixon line. 

Mr. G. Henry Stetson is a Republican in 
politics and in religion a Baptist. He was' mar- 
ried in New York, June 22, 1906, to Helen 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



401 



Brook Lewis, and has two daughters, ICliza- 
beth and Ann. 

His residence address is Elkins Park, Penn- 
sylvania, and his office address, Land Title 
Builch'ng. Philadelphia. 




CHARLES EDWIN FOX 
r^XE of the best-known and much-esteemed 
members of the Philadelphia Bar, Charles 
Edwin Eox holds an enviable, if not an unique 
position in the profession. Slightly over thirty- 
six years of age he has already made a splendid 
record, of which the fact that he has been 
assistant district attorney of Philadelphia 
County for nine years is, in itself, a very palp- 
able and significant record. The onerous and 
exacting duties of that responsible office he 
discharges to the satisfaction alike of his imme- 
diate superior and of those of the ])ublic who 
have had, or have, business relations with him. 
His ability is undoubted and widely recognized, 
his energy simply unflagging and his courtesy 



and tact as universally known as it is generally 
and cheerfully appreciated. 

Mr. Fox was born in Meadville, Pennsyl- 
vania, August 22, 1882, his father being Ben- 
jamin Fox and his mother Fannie (Stain) Fox. 
After receiving his elementary education in the 
public schools he entered the Central High 
School, Philadelphia, from which he graduated 
with the Degree of Bachelor of Arts. Subse- 
quently he took a course in the Law School of 
the University of Pennsylvania, graduating 
with the envial)le Degree of Bachelor of Law. 
He immediately opened a practice in Philadel- 
phia and while engaged in law work became 
attached to the editorial staff of the Xorth 
American, with wdiich he was connected from 
1900 to 1907. He was editor of the Philadel- 
phia "Merchants' Guide" from 1902 to 1906. 
In 1903, while still engaged in newspaper work, 
he was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar, but 
did not begin practice until 1907, when he es- 
tablished the firm of Fox and Rothschild, of 
which he is still the senior member. 

In 1908, Mr. Fox, who is a Republican in 
politics, was elected Common Councilman for 
the Thirty-second Ward of the City of Phila- 
delphia, but his appointment as assistant dis- 
trict attorney the following year obliged him 
to resign his seat. He is vice-president of 
Xeighborhood Center Scout Commissioner of 
the Philadelphia Boy Scouts, director of the 
Glen ]M ills' School for Boys and Girls, vice- 
president of the Pennsylvania Child Labor 
Association, director of the City Club, secretary 
of the Juvenile Court Committee of Philadel- 
phia, president of the Big Brother Association 
and president of the Philadelphia Conference 
of Boy Workers. He is exceedingly fond of 
active outdoor life and his recreations are golf, 
horseback riding and camping. 

Mr. Fox is a Jew in religion and is founder 
and director of Camp Kennebec, North Bel- 
grade, ]\Iaine. He was married in Philadel- 
phia, February 22, 1911, to Hortense Loeb 
Langsdorf, and has one child, Frances L. Fox. 
His residence address is 1506 North Sixteenth 
Street, Philadelphia, and his office address. 
Stock Exchange Building, Philadelphia. 



402 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



ISAAC H. SILVERMAN 
PRESIDENT of four railway companies, 
vice-president of another and director of 
two more, Isaac H. Silverman is necessarily 
a busy man in the very broadest acceptation 
and application of the phrase. Nor is this sur- 
prising when it is borne in mind that he is a 
product of Pittsburgh, and that Pittsburgh may 
be termed the busiest hive of industry in the 
United States. 

Mr. Silverman was born in the year 1862, 
while the country was in the throes of the 
Civil War, and was the son of Henry Silver- 
man, a prominent and respected resident of the 
"Smoky City." His primary education was ac- 
quired in the public schools and this was 
rounded up by a studious course in the high 
school, from which he graduated. In 1886, 
then only twenty-four years old, he entered 
into active business in partnership with W. A. 
Stern. The firm, which speedily obtained a 
footing in the industrial world, and which sub- 
sequently achieved a widespread prominence, 
was known as Stern and Silverman, and as 
such exists today, although in different condi- 
tions and environments'. Electrical engineer- 
ing and the wider field of contracting were its 
business, and the works which stand me- 
morials to its enterprise and execution are 
many, various and widespread. 

Of these the Central Station at Pittsburgh is 
a striking example, while isolated stations, 
lighting plants, electric railway systems, and 
such works, are the product of their skill, labor 
and achievement. Eor six years the firm con- 
tinued to do business in Pittsburgh and then, 
in 1892, it was removed to a wider field of 
operations in Philadelphia, where it still con- 
tinues a business career of prominence and 
prosperity. 

Nor are its activities confined to the Quaker 
City. The name which it has acquired for 
strict integrity, honest methods and superior 
workmanship is practically nation-wide, and as 
illustrating this' fact it may be mentioned that 
the firm built the first high-speed electric lines 
between Detroit and Mount Clemen, Michigan, 
and between Dayton and Cincinnati, Ohio. It 



also built other lines in various cities and 
towns of West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsyl- 
vania and electrified the West Jersey and Sea- 
shore lines, from Camden to Atlantic City, 
N. J., and the Chester Short Line from Ches- 
ter to Philadelphia. 

All these stand as evidence of enterprise, 
skill and good work honestly done, and are 
the real practical advertisements upon which 
the firm depends for a continuance of public 
patronage. 

President of the original firm of Stern and 
Silverman, Mr. Silverman is also president of 
the Atlantic City and Shore Railroad ; the Cen- 
tral Passenger Railway Company ; the Phila- 
delphia Railway Company, and the Delaware 
Tunnel Railway Company. He is also vice- 
president of the Chester and Philadelphia 
Railway Company and director of the Atlantic 
City and Suburban Railway Company, and of 
the Atlantic City and Ocean City Railway 
Company. 

Despite the strenuous life which such im- 
portant connections with such important en- 
terprises involves, Mr. Silverman finds time to 
display an active interest in educational and 
benevolent institutions. A Jew in religion, he 
is a director of the Jewish Hospital of Phila- 
delphia and is' director and treasurer of the 
National Farm School, at Doylestown, Pa. 
In this connection, and in line with his benevo- 
lent work, it may be mentioned that two acts 
involving the well being of the public to a 
large extent and the cordial relationship that 
should exist between capital and labor stand 
out in bold relief to his credit. One was his 
settlement of the Rapid Transit railroad strike 
in Philadelphia in 1909, and the other his set- 
tlement, in the previous year, of strike troubles 
on the Delaware County Railroad, between 
Philadelphia and Wilmington. In each of 
these instances Mr. Silverman performed a 
public service of inestimable value to all con- 
cerned. 

Mr. Silverman is a well-known and promi- 
nent figure in clubland. The Manufacturers', 
the Alerchants and the City of Philadelphia 
clubs have him on their membership roll, and 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



403 



he is also a director of the Phihnont Cricket 
Club. His chief recreation is golf, and in this 
connection served as chairman of the building 
committee for the erection of buildings and 
selection of grounds for golf. 

Mr. Silverman, who is a Republican in poli- 
tics, was married in 1892 to Ida Hirsch, of 
Chicago, and has four children, three boys and 
a girl. His business address is" 605 Land Title 
Building, Philadelphia. 

JAMES HULTON, SR., the well-known and 
much-esteemed dyer and finisher of textile 
goods, was born in England, August 30, 1864, 
and is the son of John H. and Alice (Walker) 
Hulton. After receiving a sovuid and liberal 
education in the public schools of his native 
town he began his life career at an early age, 
becoming a block printer in a dyeing establish- 
ment owned and controlled by his grandfather. 
After learning the essentials of his trade, and 
gaining considerable experience, he transferred 
his services to his uncle, who was extensively 
engaged in yarn dyeing. Here he remained 
until he was twenty-two years of age, when he 
decided to seek fame and fortune in the United 
States. 

Reaching America, he located in Providence, 
R. I., and secured employment in the National 
and Providence Worsted Mills'. After some 
time in this capacity he came to Philadelj)hia, 
where he became engaged with the Quaker 
City Dye Works Company as head and direc- 
tor of the dyeing department. 

In 1896 Mr. Hulton organized the firm of 
Burton and Hulton with extensive premises at 
He is a member of the Society of the Sons of 
St. George of Philadelphia ; of the St. John's 
Lodge, No. 115, Free and Accepted Masons, 
and of Siloam Lodge, Royal Arch Chapter. 
No. 226. He is honorary vice-president of 
Edward \'II Cricket Club of Germantown, 
and also honorary vice-president of the Rich- 
ard Baxter Boat and Cricket Club of Frank- 
ford, Philadelphia, and a member of the York 
Road Country Club. 

In politics Mr. Hulton is a Republican and 
in religion is attached to the Church of F.ng- 



iM-ankford, Philadelphia. .After three years 
the firm was dissolved and he then established, 
in Kensington, Philadelphia, the firm of James 
Hulton and Brothers. In 1901 this firm was 
incorporated under the laws' of the State of 
Delaware, as the liulton Dyeing and Finish- 
ing Company, and in 1916 was incorporated, 
under the Pennsylvania State laws, as the 




JAMES HULTON, SR. 

Hulton Dyeing Comi)an}-. From tlie very 
start the firm was a complete success, and now 
under the able and experienced management 
of Mr. Hulton has acquired a most enviable 
reputation and a position among the foremost 
of such establishments in the United States. 

Of the firm, James Hulton, Senior, the sub- 
ject of this sketch, is president, and James 
Hulton, Jr., vice-president. 

Mr. Hulton is a member of the Dyers' As- 
sociation of Philadelphia. He is also a director 
of the Textile National Bank of Kensington, 
and one of the Kensington Trust Company. 



404 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



land. He was married in Manchester, Eng- 
land, in 1886, to Mary Ann Jones, and has four 
children : Alice, James, Lena and Walter. 

In summer he and his family occupy a resi- 
dence at Aberdeen Place, Atlantic City, N. J., 
but throughout the rest of the year his home 
address is 4710 D Street, Olney, Pa. His 
business address is 3819 Frankford Avenue, 
Philadelphia. 




D 



IMNER BERBER, lawyer, jurist and 
financier, was born in Muncy, Pennsyl- 
vania, March 8, 1854, the son of Peter D. and 
Mary Jane Beeber. He received his elemen- 
tary education in the Selinsgrove Academy and 
later graduated from Pennsylvania College at 
Gettysburg, Pa., bearing off the Degree of 
Bachelor of Arts. Later he received the honor- 
ary Degree of Master of Arts from Princeton 
University and that of Doctor of Laws from 
Pennsylvania College. 

In 1874 Mr. Beeber entered the law office of 
his brother, J. A. Beeber, at Williamsport, Pa., 
and two years later was admitted to the Bar. 
In the year of his' admission — 1876 — he re- 
moved to Philadelphia, where he engaged in 
the practice of his profession. In 1884 he 
became a partner in the law firm of Jones, 
Carson and Beeber, but upon the appoint- 
ment of Mr. Carson to be attorney general 
of Pennsylvania the firm was dissolved and 
Mr. Beeber practiced alone. In 1889 he was 
appointed by Governor Hastings to fill a va- 
cancy in the state Supreme court. He could 
have retained that position through a term cov- 
ering ten years but preferred to return to pri- 
vate practice. 

He is now president and director of the 
Commonwealth Title Insurance & Trust Com- 
pany of Philadelphia, and director Tradesmen's 
National Bank; Fire Association of Philadel- 
phia. 

Mr. Beeber was vice-president and later 
president of the Union League, Philadelphia, 
and is a member of the American Bar Associa- 
tion and the State Bar Association. He is an 
honorary member Phi Beta Kappa Society, 




GEORGE PEIRCE 
T AWYER; born in Philadelphia, (Jctober 6, 
1847 ; son of Judge William Shannon 
Peirce, of the Court of Common Pleas' of 
Philadelphia County, and of Elizabeth Irwin 
(Baldwin) Peirce. His father was a descend- 
ant of early settlers of Delaware, holding 
grants from Sir Edmund Andros in 1680, and 
his mother was great granddaughter of An- 
drew Irwin, some time Royal Governor of the 
island of Grenada, West Indies. Mr. Peirce 
was educated at the Friends' Central School, 
Philadelphia, and at the United States' Naval 
Academy at Newport and Annapolis, 1862- 
1866, and while in the service cruised as Mid- 
shipman in 1863 and 1865 in the Sloop of War 
Marion, the steamer Winnipeg and the frigate 
Macedonian. Following the wish of his father 
Mr. Peirce resigned from the Navy to read 
law. He studied in the ofiice of Edward Hop- 
per, Esq., at Philadelphia, and at the Law 
School of the University of Pennsylvania and 
was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar Novem- 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



405 



l)er 14. 1868. Later he attended lectures at the 
Harvard Law School with the class of 1871 
and after a tour abroad s'ettled down to the 
})ractice of his profession in September, 1871. 
He is one of the Board of Council of the Penn- 
sylvania Home for Blind Women, member of 
the Zeta Lsi Fraternity, the University liarge 
Club. Harvard Law School Association, Har- 
\ard Club of Philadelphia, the Law Associa- 
tion of Philadelphia, the x-Xmerican Bar Asso- 
ciation, the University Club, the Welsh So- 
ciety and the Historical Society of Pennsyl- 
vania. He married December 10. 1874, Lucy, 
daughter of the Rev. Dr. John B. Spots'wood 
and Sarah Peters (Willing) Spotswood. Mr. 
Peirce lives at New Castle. Delaware, l)ut con- 
tinues the practice of law at Philadelj)hia. 




npHOMAS MORGAN EYNON, president 
and treasurer of the Eynon-Iu-ans Manu- 
facturing Company, manufacturing engineer- 
ing specialties, was born in Norristown, Pa., 
on March 14. 1861. After the usual course of 



instruction in the public schools of liis native 
town he attended the High School, from which 
he graduated with honors. He then entered 
Lehigh University and after an exceptionally 
l)rilliant cours'e graduated frcm that institu- 
tion as mechanical engineer. 

This was in 1881, and four years later he 
was elected to the distinguished position of 
trustee of his alma mater, a position which he 
filled for seven years with much credit to him- 
self and much and lasting ])enefit to the 
University. 

After graduating Mr. Eynon ap])lic(l him- 
self to the active practice of his business in 
Philadelphia, and with marked success. In 
1892 he organized the Eynon-Evans Company, 
which became flourishing from the start and 
which now employs as many as 150 men. Mr. 
Eynon was general manager of the firm from 
its' organization until 1907. He then became 
its president and continued such until 1914, 
when there was added to his duty and re- 
sponsibility as president that of treasurer also. 
He now owns a controlling interest in the 
company, which has long since attained ])romi- 
nence, as well as success, under the efficient 
supervision and the large experience which he 
unremittingly devoted to it. 

Mr. Eynon, who is a Christian Scientist, 
never held nor aspired to public office in Phila- 
delphia, nor is he affiliated with any political 
])arty organization. He is simply a thorough 
Rei)ublican. who has implicit faith in the prin- 
ciples and the destiny of his party. 

He is a member of the Manufacturers' Clul) 
of Philadelphia and also holds membership in 
the American Society of Mechanical Engi- 
neers, the Institute of Mining Engineers and 
the Engineering Club of Philadelphia. 

Mr. Eynon was married September 25, 1885, 
to Clara \\ Schall. Lie has two children, a 
son who is also a graduate of Lehigh Uni- 
versity, and is superintendent of the Eynon- 
Evans Company, and a daughter. 

His residence address is' the Manufacturers' 
Club, Philadelphia, and his business address. 
Fifteenth and Clearfield Streets, Philadelphia. 



405 



IHE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




JOSEPH R. WILSON 



T AWYER, originator of "A Chapel in Every 
Home." 

"I practice law for a living, but the propoga- 
tion of the necessity for 'A Chapel in Every 
Home' is my life-work." 

This is how Mr. Wilson sums up his own 
life. Few men have shown greater fidelity to 
a lofty ideal, or more zeal in their efiforts to 
accomplish its realization than Joseph R. Wil- 
son, whose earnest plea for "A Chapel in Every 
Home" has enlisted the interest and support of 
thinkers throughout the world. His book, "A 
Chapel in Every Home," which he has dis- 
tributed free throughout the civilized world, 



contains many letters from distinguished lay- 
men and dignitaries of the church, of all de- 
nominations, expressive of their unqualified 
approval of the movement. The work is at- 
tracting wide attention in the religious world, 
and the author received endorsements from 
three cardinals, thirteen archbishops, one hun- 
dred and fifty-seven bishops, the presidents of 
twenty-eight of the prominent universities, 
colleges and seminaries of the United States, 
and from many of the leading churchmen of 
all denominations. Mr. Wilson's' book re- 
ceived the endorsement of the House of Bish- 
ops of the Protestant Episcopal Convention, 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



407 



held at St. Louis in 1917. Writing in com- 
mendation of Mr. Wilson's proposition, the late 
Dr. George Dana Boardman says : "If pagan 
Rome had domestic shrines for household gods, 
surely Christian America ought to have domes- 
tic shrines for the only living God." The moral 
influence of such an ideal is incalculable, and 
its crystallization into an accepted practice or 
custom would mark a long step toward the 
realization of the dream which the Christian 
church has cherished through many centuries 
— the dream of Christianizing the whole world. 
A household chapel, specially dedicated and 
consecrated to the x\lmighty God, and dis- 
associated from eating, drinking and s'leeping, 
would afford that closet into which we could 
retire and pray in secret; it w^ould be the 
religious center around which the domestic life 
would revolve — a place where the human heart 
could pour out its supplications, and prayers 
of gladness. As the late Bishop Potter wrote 
Mr. Wilson, "A place for prayer implies a time 
for it." One of the most prophetic endorse- 
ments of the thought is by Dr. Edgar Fahs 
Smith, Provost of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, who wrote Mr. Wilson, "There is more 
in your thought than the world dreams of." 
Mr. Wilson's appeal is to all who worship God, 
irrespective of creed or denomination. 

Mr. Joseph R. Wilson, the originator of this 
beautiful idea, and its enthusiastic propagand- 
ist, was born September 6, 1866, at Liverpool, 
England. His father was Joseph Wilson, 
senior partner in the firm of J. and R. Wilson, 
shipowners, and his mother was Mary Amanda 
Victoria (Hawkes) Wilson. His education 
was obtained at Allsops Preparatory School, 
Hoylake, Cheshire, England ; Strathallan Hall, 
Douglas, Isle of Alan ; and at the University 
of Sydney, New South Wales. Upon the death 
of his father in 1888, Mr. Wilson came to the 
United States and located in the city of Phila- 
delphia, where he was for some time engaged 
with his father-in-law, Thomas Shaw, of Shaw- 
mont, in engineering work, and in scientific re- 
search, in which he established a solid reputa- 
tion by his original work. In 1898 he became 
financial and railroad editor of the 'Thiladel- 



])hia Evening Bulletin," in which capacity he 
remained until 1898, when he entered the law 
office of Hampton L. Carson as a student. In 
the following year he entered the Law School 
of the University of Pennsylvania, from which 
he was graduated with the Degree of LL.B., 
and was admitted to the Bar in 1902. He at 
once began the practice of his profession, and 
came into immediate prominence. 

During his student days at the university he 
was chosen president of his low class for three 
successive years, an unusual honor, and was 
president of the Miller Law Club of the uni- 
versity, and after his graduation was made 
chairman of its advisory board, serving from 
1909 to 1913. He has frequently been chair- 
man of committees to receive distinguished 
guests of the university, and was chairman of 
the committee appointed by the provost to re- 
ceive and entertain the Eighth International 
Congress of Students from the Universities of 
the World. He was also chairman of the com- 
mittee of the Transatlantic Society of Amer- 
ica, which gave its notable farewell dinner to 
Ambassador Bryce. 

Mr. Wilson is a trustee of the American 
Oncologic Hospital and chairman of its finance 
committee ; member of the American Academy 
of Political and Social Science ; Trans-Atlantic 
Society of America (of which he has been one 
of the governors since 1909), Permanent Inter- 
national Association of Navigation Congresses, 
Atlantic Deeper Waterways Association, Na- 
tional Municipal League. Historical Society of 
Pennsylvania, Public Education Association, 
Geographical Society of Philadelphia, Ameri- 
can University Extension Society, Pennsyl- 
vania Arbitration and Peace Society, American 
Bar Association, Law Association. Law Acad- 
emy, Pennsylvania Bar Association, and So- 
ciety of the Law Alumni of the University of 
Pennsylvania, of which he has been one of the 
board of managers since 1908. As a member 
of the Atlantic Deeper Waterways Associa- 
tion he was a delegate to the National Con- 
gress of Harbors and Rivers' held in Washing- 
ton in 1909, 1910, 1912 and 1913. He is a 
thirty-second degree Mason, being a member 



408 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



of University Lodge, Xo. 610, F. and A. M., 
and the Philadelphia Consistory. He has twice 
served as national president of the Acacia 
Fratenity, which draws its membership exclu- 
sively from college men who are Master 
Masons. He is an honorary member of the 
Harvard Chapter, of Harvard University, of 
Yale Chapter of Yale University, and of the 
Columbia Chapter of Columbia University, and 
is also a member of the Delta Upsilon Fra- 
ternity. 

Mr. Wilson's clubs are the University Club 

-of Philadelphia, University Club of Washing- 
ton, D. C, and Bankers' Club of America, New 
York. He is also a life member of the Cos- 
mopolitan Club of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania. 

■ At the outbreak of the war, ^Ir. Wilson 
started to organize a regiment known as the 
"President's Guards of Pennsylvania," and 
opened six recruiting stations in Philadelphia. 
He would have had his full regiment recruited 
in another week, including a large number of 
veterans of the Philippines who were eager to 
go to France, had not the president vetoed the 
volunteer system. Mr. Wilson's plan was' that 
there should be one regiment in every state 
known as the "President's Guards,"*' and he 
planned to go to France as Colonel of the 
Pennsylvania Regiment, having held a com- 
mission as first lieutenant in the Fourth Regi- 
ment Xew South Wales Infantry. Later he 
became one of the original Four-Minute Men 
and chairman of the Legal Advisory Board for 
the 20th Division of the draft, Philadelphia. 

He was- married in 1890 to ^liss Cora Irene 
Shaw, daughter of the late Thomas Shaw, of 
Shawmont, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Wilson is now 
a director of the National Safety Council and 
chairman of the committee on Safety Educa- 
tion in the Public Schools of the nation. Mr. 
Wilson has four children — Mary Michelet, now 
Mrs. Johan W. Muntz, of Rotterdam, Holland, 
John Hawkes (Aviation Service, U. S. Army), 
Sidney Violet and Cora B. H. Wilson. His 
residence is "Shawmont," Philadelphia, and 
his summer residence, Seaside Park, N. J. His 
business address is Commonwealth Building, 
Philadelphia. 



CLAUDE F. BENNETT 

\\/'HEN the late George Boldt opened the 
Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia 
he was determined to surround himself with 
the very best available official force. It was 
his determination to make the big hotel known 
from one end of the country to the other as the 
very best hostelry of its kind. And he has 
succeeded. 

Among the official staft' directing the hotel 
management is Claude F. Bennett, assistant 
manager of the Bellevue-Stratford. Mr. Ben- 
nett is known to hotel patrons everywhere be- 
cause of his amiable disposition and his marked 
knowledge of the art of giving patrons what 
they want in the line of hotel service. To a 
majority of the Bellevue-Stratford guests Mr. 
Bennett is "Claude." And whenever there 
arises any "want" on the part of a guest, the 
first thing suggested is to "Ask Claude." 
How well Mr. Bennett and his official asso- 

- ciates have succeeded in conducting the hotel 
affairs may be gleaned from the fact that when 

. the New York courts recently looked into the 
financial affairs of the late Mr. Boldt, for pur- 

' poses of taxation, it was discovered th'at the 
Bellevue-Stratford Hotel was among the few 
of Mr. Boldt's investments that really "made 
good." 

^Ir. Bennett knows the "hotel game" from 
start to finish. He is just as familiar with the 
"bell hop's" job as he is his own. There were 
times in the old Bellevue when "Claude" ran 
upstairs to answer the wants of a patron of the 
hotel — all dressed in a brass-button uniform 
and with a pitcher of ice water in his hand. 

He was a persistent "attender" to details and 
no request was considered too trivial for him 
to try and meet. It was this part of his make- 
up, in the opinion of the hotel executives, that 
first attracted attention to Mr. Bennett, and one 
which now stands him in good stead in his 
official capacity as assistant manager of the 
Bellevue-Stratford Hotel. 

Newspapermen say he is the "best posted 
hotel man in the countr}-." And their judg- 
ment of a man is pretty keen! 



THE STORY OF PII ILADT.LPI UA 



409 




CONYERS BUTTON 



PONYERS BUTTON, a retired hosiery man- 
ufacturer, 221 West Upsal Street, German- 
town, was born July 2, 1836, in a house that 
stood at Alain Street (now Germantown Ave- 
nue) and Wahiut Lane. He is a son of John 
liutton and Ann (Wass) Button, who emi- 
grated to America from Leicestershire. Eng- 
land, in 1830. 

The elder Button may well be styled the 
father of manufacturing in Germantowai. He 
brought with him from England two of the 
first knitting machines placed on .\merican 
soil, and began the manufacture of hosiery. 
Business prospered, and in 1835 he purchased 
three acres of ground at Main Street and \\'al- 
nut Lane and erected thereon a large plant. 



Conyers Button was educated in private 
schools in Germantown. After reaching his 
eighteenth year he entered his father's mill. 
Here he applied himself to every branch of the 
Inisiness, and in 1858 was admitted as a partner 
with his father and brother Joseph, the latter 
having been made a member of the firm in 
1851. The firm thus became John Button & 
Sons. In 1865 Conyers Button became sole 
proprietor, under the trade name of Conyers 
lUitton Company. 

John Button died February 8, 1882, at the 
age of 82, just one day following the death of 
his elder son, Joseph. 

Air. Button was married December 25, 1862, 
to Aliss Tane Dundas I^riestlev, of Xorthum- 



410 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



berland, Pa. They had one child, John Priest- 
ley Button, who in 1892 became associated in 
business with his father. Mrs. Button died 
ten years ago. 

The Conyers Button Company continued in 
business until 1899, when the mill and machin- 
ery were sold, the buildings demolished and 
the ground cut up into building lots. 

Mr. Button is a member of the Union League, 
having joined that organization during the 
Civil War. He is also a member of the Uni- 
tarian Church of Germantown. 

His home is filled with many priceless works 
of art gathered in America and Europe, to 
which latter Mr. Button has made eighteen 
trips. 

The retired manufacturer always has been 
noted for his neatness and precision in dress 
and his close application to details. He attrib- 
utes to the latter much of his business success. 

DAVID S. B. PENNOCK 
PHILADELPHIA boasts of an Osteopathic 
Hospital that is among the most modern 
and best-equipped to be found anywdiere in 
the country. On its stafif are some of the best- 
known active and consultant osteopathic phy- 
sicians in America. 

Establishment of the hospital was aided 
materially by the activities of Dr. David S. B, 
Pennock, an official of the Osteopathic Asso- 
ciation and one of the leading osteopathic phy- 
sicians in Philadelphia. His suits of profes- 
sional offices in the Land Title Building are 
among the best appointed in the city. They 
are frequented daily by patients among whom 
are numbered some of the best-known social, 
financial, business and professional leaders in 
Philadelphia. 

Philadelphia is fast becoming the leading 
osteopathic center in the United States. And 
its doctors are among the best-equipped, men- 
tally. Just as the "City of Brotherly Love" 
has long been recognized among the big world 
centers in the surgical and alopathic fields, so 
it is attracting attention as the real home of 
osteopathy. Activities in the osteopathic field 
have increased materially in the last few years'. 



and in every movement designed to aid the 
profession Dr. Pennock has taken a forceful 
and active stand. He is considered one of the 
"deans" of the osteopathic profession in Phila- 
delphia, and frequently he is consulted by his 
fellow-physicians because of his high standing 
in the profession. 

J OHN CADWALADER, lawyer and capital- 
ist, was born in Philadelphia, with which 
his ancestors had been associated for centuries, 
on June 27, 1843. His father was the Hon. 
John Cadwalader, United States district judge 
of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, from 
1868 to 1879, and his mother, before her mar- 
riage, was Henrietta Marie Bancker. He is 
grandson of Major General Thomas Cadwal- 
ader of Pennsylvania troops, who served in the 
War of 1812, and great grandson of Brigadier 
General John Cadwalader of the Revolutionary 
Army, and friend of Washington. 

Mr. Cadwalader graduated in 1862 with the 
Degree of Master of Arts, from the University 
of Pennsylvania, of which his direct ancestors 
for three generations were also alumni. He 
was admitted to the Bar in 1864 and has since 
practiced law in Philadelphia. In politics he is 
a Democrat and was appointed by President 
Cleveland collector of the port of Philadelphia 
in 1885, which position he held until 1889. He 
is president New York and Baltimore Trans- 
portation Line, and of the Baltimore and Phila- 
delphia Steamboat Company ; director Trust 
Company of North America ; trustee Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania ; president General So- 
ciety of the War of 1812. He is also member 
of the Pennsylvania Institution for the Blind ; 
member American Philosophical Society, 
Board of Council, Academy of Natural Scien- 
ces and jury commissioner of the United States 
Circuit Court. 

Mr. Cadwalader was married April 17, 1866, 
to Mary Helen, daughter of Joshua Francis 
Fisher, of Philadelphia. His Clubs are Uni- 
versity (president since 1896), Penn, Philadel- 
phia Country, Rittenhouse, Art (Philadelphia) ; 
Metropolitan (Washington). Address, 1519 
Locust Street, Philadelphia. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



411 







HOWARD B. FRENCH 



n . 



TN THE year 1676 there was signed in the 
City of London a paper of most historic 
interest. It was termed "Concessions and 
Agreements of the Province of West New 
Jersey in America," and its purpose was the 
founding of a model commonwealth in which 
the largest measure of religion and personal 
liberty should exist. This document was 
signed by about 150 men, among whom were 
William Penn and Thomas French. Each of 
those was a leader in the great religious' move- 
ment started by George Fox, and to escape 
the persecutions to which their sect, the So- 
ciety of Friends, was then subjected. Each, 



later on, became associated with the new 
province to which the famous paper they had 
signed applied. 

Thomas French, with his wife and nine cliil- 
dren, arrived in Burlington, N. J., on the ship 
Kent on July 23, 1680. He settled on a large 
tract of valuable land along the Rancocas, 
about four miles' from Burlington, where he 
resided until his death. Like most of the lead- 
ers in this great religious movement with 
which he was associated, he was a man of 
forceful character and unblemished integrity, 
who detested oppression of any sort, whether 
religious, ])olitical or individual, and who prac- 



412 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



ticed to the fullest extent the beautiful tenets 
of the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood 
of God which he believed in and practiced. 
He became, in a comparatively short time, one 
of the most influential men in the province and 
at his death was regarded as one of the wealth- 
iest. He passed away in 1699, leaving behind 
him something like 1200 acres of improved 
land in New Jersey, his proprietary share in 
unsurveyed lands, amounting to about 2000 
acres, in the same province, besides a large 
estate in England. From this pioneer in 
America of the historic English family of 
French, Howard Barclay French, the subject 
of this sketch, is descended. 

Apart from his distinguished ancestry, Mr. 
French is a unique and imposing figure in the 
public and social life of Philadelphia. In the 
financial world he occupies' a most command- 
ing place, in which as a public-spirited citizen 
he has long since been conspicuous and active. 
As a financier his advice is largely sought 
and invariably acted upon by men of conserva- 
tive methods and views, while as a citizen he 
has ever been foremost and earnest in any 
and every public or private movement de- 
signed, or calculated, to advance the interests' 
or contribute in any way to the material bet- 
terment of the Quaker City. The question of 
pul)lic charities, of organized effort to ameli- 
orate the conditions of the poorer classes, as 
well as the question of education, has invari- 
ably found in him a warm advocate and gen- 
erous exponent. All his lifetime, in a word, 
has been spent in good works, and in works 
of public usefulness and utility, and while he 
has made many friends, and has a host of ad- 
mirers, there is not in Philadelphia a man or 
woman who does not regard him with sin- 
cere admiration and deep seated esteem. 

Howard B. French was born in Salem, Ohio, 
September 3, 1848, and is son of Samuel H. 
and Angelina (Dunseth) French. He was 
brought to Philadelphia in early childhood, 
and received his elementary education in the 
Friends' School. After he quit school he 
served an apprenticeship of three years and a 
half in the retail drug store of William r>. 



A\'ebb, and during that time attended the 
Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, from which 
he graduated in 1871. 

In that year he entered the employment of 
his father's firm, French, Richards and Com- 
pany, wholesale druggists and paint manufac- 
turers, whose origin dated back to 1844. After 
he had thoroughly mastered all the details of 
the business he was transferred to the manu- 
facturing department. While engaged here he 
entered Jefferson Medical College, but the on- 
erous duties of his' business, combined with 
hard study, began to tell upon his constitution 
and put an end to his ambition to adopt medi- 
cine as the profession of his life. This he did 
on the understanding that at the expiration of 
the existing partnership agreement the manu- 
facturing department of the great and growing 
business should be entirely separated from the 
drug department. 

In 1883 Mr. French and his brother, \Villiam 
A., joined with their father and John L. Long- 
streth in forming the firm of Samuel H. French 
and Company, which succeeded the manufac- 
turing branch of the old firm. 

In 1886 A\'illiam A. French died, and in 1895 
Samuel H. French passed away, after a most 
honorable, most successful and most useful 
life. In 1901 John L. Longstreth retired and 
Mr. French became sole owner of the business, 
retaining the firm name of Samuel H. French 
and Company. 

Under his vigorous direction and personal 
management it has' gone steadily ahead and 
today occupies a leading place amongst the 
foremost concerns of the kind in the United 
States. In the drug trade of America he is 
held in the highest esteem and for twenty- 
four years held the influential position of chair- 
man of the executive committee of the Phila- 
delphia Paint Manufacturers' Club, while in 
1895 he was elected president of the National 
Paint, Oil and Varnish Association. 

Mr. French's position in the world of finance 
ranks very high. Upon the organization of the 
Equitable Trust Company of Philadelphia, in 
1890, he became a director and two years later 
was elected president. Under his careful man- 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



413 



agement and conservative gnidance the institu- 
tion has progressed steadily and now stands in 
the very forefront of banking organizations in 
the Quaker City. His other activities have 
been many and notable. He is a member of 
the Pennsylvania State Board of Charities, and 
for many years has' been one of the managers 
and trustees of the Philadelphia Southern 
Home for Destitute Children, and also a man- 
ager of the Home Missionary Society. For 
forty years he has been a trustee of the Phila- 
delphia College of Pharmacy, one of the oldest 
and largest institutions of its kind in the world, 
and was for ten years its president. 

He has made many munificent gifts to the 
institution, notably the presentation, in con- 
nection with the Smith, Kline and French 
Drug Company, of the Martindale Herbarium, 
which contains over 200,000 specimens from all 
over the globe. To his initiative and energy 
was also due the great additions made to the 
college building, the construction of which he 
personally superintended. 

Since its organization in 1890 as the Trades 
League of Philadelphia, Mr. French has been 
a director of the Chamber of Commerce, and 
in this connection has taken an active and 
zealous part in every movement organized by 
that institution to promote or conserve the 
business interests of Philadelphia. In fact, it 
was at his suggestion, and largely through his 
instrumentality, that the present recreation 
piers for the poor, and others, were erected 
along the Delaware River, and that the city 
established its high-pressure water system. 

In 1869, by appointment of the Governor of 
Penns3-lvania. he w^as a delegate to the con- 
vention at Tampa, Florida, to devise methods 
for the proper defense of the South Atlantic 
and Gulf ports of the United States. He was 
a member of the executive committee of the 
Tennessee Centennial Commission of Phila- 
delphia and was also secretary of the Union 
Committee on transportation, manufacturing 
and other commercial interests of the Quaker 
City. He also served as a member of the 
advisory board of the Commercial Museum, 
and is now a trustee of that institution. He 



has been for many years connected with tlie 
Franklin Institute and ^Manufacturers' Club of 
Philadelphia, was chairman of a joint commit- 
tee of the commercial organization of the city 
and was also of the sub-committee that se- 
lected the site for the United States Mint. 

Mr. French's attitude on all civic questions 
has always been as alert and active as it has 
been prominent. Every movement for the wel- 
fare of Philadelphia has his wholehearted sup- 
port, and that support, in its monetary aspect, 
has always been most generous. 

In 1895, for instance, he was chairman of the 
Citizens' Committee for Good Government, 
and during the administration of Mayor 
Weaver, from 1895 to 1899, he served as mem- 
ber of the Civil Service Commission of the 
city, which examined over 2000 applicants. 

In the presidential contest of 1896 he was 
vice-chairman of the McKinley and liobart 
Business' Men's National Campaign Commit- 
tee. So well did he discharge the duties of 
this responsible and exacting position that 
President McKinley, and the chairman of the 
Republican National Committee, ]\Iark Hanna, 
wrote in grateful recognition of his great 
services. 

In the Republican National Convention held 
in Philadelphia in 1900 he was chairman and 
member of several important committees, and 
during the Founders' Week celebration in Phil- 
adelphia in 1908 — a celebration of the two hun- 
dred and twenty-fifth anniversary of the 
foundation of the city — he was specially j)romi- 
nent and active. 

Mr. French has' devoted himself to literature 
to a certain extent, and is author of "The 
Genealogy of the Descendants of Thomas 
French, 1630-1903," which was published in 
two volumes. He is actively associated with 
manv associations and clubs of which a few 
may be mentioned. These are the Union 
League, of which he has been a member for 
nearly a score of years, of whicli he is also a 
director; the Colonial Society; the Historical 
Society of Pennsylvania ; the New Jersey So- 
ciety, of Philadelphia, of which he was the 
originator and a former president, and the 



414 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Ohio Society of Philadelphia. He also holds 
membership in the Merion Cricket Club. 

Mr. French was married in 1882 to Ida Col- 
ket, daughter of Coffin Colket, president of 
many transportation companies. They had 
two children, a son who died in infancy, and a 
daughter. His residence address is Alder- 
brook, near Radnor, Pa., and 2021 Spruce 
Street, Philadelphia, and his office addresses 
are York Avenue and Callowhill Street. Phila- 
delphia, and Broad Street and South Penn 
Square. 




WALTER F. BALLIXGER 

npHE firm of Ballinger & Perrot, architects 
and engineers, has designed and con- 
structed some of the most imposing commer- 
cial, institutional and industrial establish- 
ments in this section of the country. The 
name "Ballinger & Perrot" is to be found on 
some of the country's most important strvic- 
tures and is recognized by the profession gen- 



erally as typifying the best there is in their 
respective lines. 

Walter F. Ballinger is senior member of the 
firm. The other member is Emile G. Perrot. 
Mr. Ballinger was born in Petroleum Center, 
Pennsylvania, August 13, 1867, a son of the 
late Jacob H. and Sarah W. Ballinger. His 
father, who owned and operated a machine 
shop in the oil regions, died when young Bal- 
linger was two years old, leaving his mother 
and three children. After a brief interval the 
little family moved to Woodstown, N. J., 
where they lived for twelve years. 

At the age of thirteen years Walter Bal- 
linger left school to work on the farm of his 
cousin, and later in a factory. Promotion in 
the factory, due to his ability in certain prac- 
tical work involving computations, inspired 
him to continue his education. Fie attended 
night sessions at the local grammar schools, 
tchnical schools, Y. M. C. A. and Drexel 
Institute. 

Having saved money enough for his tuition 
fees, young Ballinger entered a business col- 
lege. Later he obtained positions in the offices 
of a manufacturing establishment, a lawyer 
and a coal dealer. 

In 1889 young Ballinger entered the office of 
Geissinger and Hales, at that time prominent 
architects and engineers in this city. At the 
same time he continued his studies, applying 
to daily practice the theoretical knowledge he 
ol^tained at night schools. Upon the retire- 
ment of Mr. Geissinger, a partnership under 
the firm name of Hales and Ballinger was 
formed in 1894. 

Six years later Mr. Hales retired and Emile 
G. Perrot, a graduate of the University of 
Pennsylvania and former head draftsman of 
the firm, was admitted into partnership. The 
firm then became Ballinger and Perrot. 

In 1897 Mr. Ballinger married Miss Bessie 
H. Connell. Their daughter, Grace Agnes Bal- 
linger, is a student at Swarthmore College, and 
an adopted son, Robert Irving Ballinger, is in 
the employ of the firm as superintendent of 
construction. 

Mr. Ballinger is affiliated with the German- 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



415 



town and Cliestnut Hill Improvement Asso- 
ciation, the -Methodist Episcopal. Social Union, 
the Board of Temperance, Prohibition and 
Public ]\Iorals of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church and a trustee of the First Methodist 
Episco])al Church of Germantown. For a 
number of years he was superintendent of a 
Mission Sunday School. 

Mr. Ballinger is also a member of the City 
Club, Eng^ineers' Clul), Manufacturers' Club, 
Franklin Institute, American Society of Civil 
Engineers, American Society of Mechanical 
Engineers, Philadelphia Chamber of Com- 
merce, Chamber of Commerce of the Borough 
of Queens, N. Y., and the Camden Board of 
Trade. 

In addition Air. Ballinger is a member of the 
Executive and Fire Resistive Committee of th.- 
National Fire Protective Association ; a man- 
ager of the Seamen's Friend Society, and is 
interested in numerous charitable organiza- 
tions. He is a member of the Independent 
Order of Americans, Melita Lodge, No. 295, 
F. and A. M.; Melita Chapter, No. 284, Royal 
Arch Chapter; Philadelphia Consistory, Thir- 
ty-second Degree, and Lulu Temple. 

Mr. Ballinger has always been a consistent 
exponent of civic improvement and has taken 
an active interest in civic reform movements. 
In politics he is an independent Republican 
and is a strong Prohibitionist. 

During the war the firm of Ballinger and 
Perrot devoted its attentions largely to gov- 
ernment projects, including Union Park Gar- 
dens, at Wilmington, Del., a "Garden City" to 
house shipworkers ; improvements and addi- 
tions to the U. S. Gas Defense plant, Long 
Island City, and building and equipment work 
for various war industries. 

The firm maintains offices in this city and 
in New York. Included in the list of institu- 
tions and commercial buildings designed and 
constructed by the firm of Ballinger and Per- 
rot are the following : 

Methodist Home for the Aged, Philadel- 
phia; St. Mary's Hospital, Philadelphia; Villa 
3ilaria Academy, Frazer, Pa. ; St. Michael's 
Bovs' Industrial School, AMiitc's Ferrv, Pa. ; 



Western Theological Seminary, Pittsburgh; 
Victor Talking Machine Company, Camden ; 
Joseph Campbell Company, Camden ; Edward 
G. Budd Manufacturing Company, Philadel- 
phia; Strawbridge & Clothier Warehouse, 
Philadelphia; New York Consolidated Card 
Company, Long Island City, N. Y. ; National 
Casket Company, Long Island City, N. Y., and 
the John K. Stewart Company, Long Island 
City, N. Y. 

A \'ERY DE LANO ANDREWS, lawyer and 
capitalist, was born at Massena, New 
York, April 4, 1864, and is son of Hannibal and 
Harriet (De Lano) Harrison. He attended 
Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Massachu- 
setts, and graduated from the L'nited States 
Military Academy in 1886. He studied law at 
Columbian (now George Washington) Uni- 
versity Law School of Washington D. C, re- 
ceiving the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 

1891, which was supplemented by a similar 
Degree from the New York Law School in 

1892. He married, September 27, 1888, on Gov- 
ernors Island, New York, Mary C, daughter 
of Lieutenant-General John M. Schofield, and 
they have two sons, Schofield and De Lano. 
He served as lieutenant 5th United States Ar- 
tillery, 1886-1893 ; aide-de-camp to the major- 
general commanding the army, 1889-1902; 
major and engineer 1st Brigade, National 
Guard of the State of New York. 1898, and 
major commanding Squadron A, National 
(iuard State of New York, 1898; lieutenant- 
colonel United States Volunteers during Span- 
ish War; adjutant general State of New York, 
and chief of stafif to Governor Roosevelt, 1899; 
police commissioner of New York City, 1895- 
1897. 

Mr. Andrews is vice-president and director 
of the General Asphalt Company, the Barber 
.Asphalt Paving Company. Colonel Andrews 
is Independent in politics, and an Episcopalian 
in religion. He is a member of the Associa- 
tion of the Bar of the City of New York, the 
American Academy of. Political and Social 
Science, Military Society of Foreign Wars, the 
Century, University and Church Clubs of New 
York, and the Army and Navy Club of Wash- 
ington. D. C. Ofiice address, Land Title Build- 
ing. Philadelphia. 



416 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




GEORGE L. fVi ARKLAND. J: 



"pOREMOST among the self-made men of 
Philadelphia, whose number is as large as 
the business and enterprise which they repre- 
sent are extensive, must be included George 
Louis' Markland, Jr., president of the Phila- 
delphia Gear Works, which occupies the vast 
site from 1120 to 1128 Vine Street. 

Philadelphia was the city of Mr. Markland's 
birth and with Philadelphia his paternal an- 
cestors were closely identified since Colonial 
days. His great grandfather, Captain John 
Markland, served in the War of the Revolu- 
tion under General Lafayette, and subsequent- 
ly under General Washington, and was highly 
commended for bravery and devotion to the 



patriot's cause. Captain Markland & Son, the 
grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was 
also prominent in his natal city of Philadel- 
phia, when he conducted a large and active 
practice as a lawyer of state-wide repute. Mr. 
Markland's father, Henry Broome Markland, 
the son of this popular lawyer, was also a man 
of note and influence in the Quaker City. At 
the outbreak of the Civil War he joined the 
Seventy-second Pennsylvania Zouaves and 
served with much distinction, but died at the 
early age of 44. His' widow, Mr. Markland's 
mother, whose maiden name was Anna P. 
Smith, still survives him. 

The subject of this sketch was born July 20, 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



417 



1S()S. lie attciulcil the public schools at 
I'raiikford until he was thirteen, and at that 
age embarked on his life career l)y l)cconiing' 
an apprentice to a machinist. Having served 
his time at this he started business' ior himself, 
Init failed. Nothing- daunted, he started again, 
but again failure was the result. By this time 
he had gained the wisdom that comes from ex- 
perience and he made the third, and. as it 
])roved. the successful attempt to secure the 
living which he felt the world owed him, by 
becoming associated, on January 13. 1893, with 
the Philadelphia Gear Works. He entered the 
employment of the firm as machinist and con- 
tinued in this position until September, 1901, 
when he was appointed superintendent. Two 
years later he was made business manager and 
treasurer, and in 1907 was appointed to the 
responsible office of purchasing agent. In all 
these years his energy and ambition kept pace 
with his various promotions' and in 191 1 the 
reward came w'hen he became sole owner of 
the extensive and still-growing business wdiich 
he had in a large meastn-e created and de- 
\eloped. 

Air. Alarkland, besides being president of the 
Philadelphia Gear Works, is a member of the 
American Academy of Political and Social 
Science and of the Society of Auto luigineers. 
He is also a member of the Manufacturers' 
Club of Philadelphia, the Pen and Pencil Club. 
and the Engineers' Club, also of Philadelphia, 
and of the Machinery Club of New York. He 
served in the New York militia at Yonkers and 
is a member of the Sinking Fund Commission 
ijf Stone Harbor, N. J., and also Commodore 
i)f the Stone Harbor Yacht Club. 

Mr. Markland is a Republican in politics. 
but has never held or sought public office, and 
is in religion a Protestant. He was married in 
Alarch, 1893, to Ivy M. Quick, and has one 
daughter, Anna Broome Markland, and an 
adopted son. Robert Ivan Markland. His 
recreations are billiards, boating and s'wim- 
niing, at each of which he is an adept. His 
residence address is 6242 Carpenter Street, 
West Philadelphia, and his business address 
1120-22-24-26-28 Vine Street, Philadelphia. 



A. AIWATICRKENT 



W 



/■plh^N it comes to a discussion (jf the matter 
of scientific ignition of automobiles, the 
Atwatcr Kent Manufacturing Works, of Phila- 
delphia, stands foremost among firms in this 
country paying exclusive attention to this 
branch of the automobile bus'iness. 

The president of the company is A. Atwater 
Kent, one of the foremost experts on ignition 
anywhere in the country. Mr. Kent has his 
manufacturing plant in Germantown. He re- 
sides at Rosemont. 

In the manufacture of the Atwater Kent 
scientific ignition system there is a certain en- 
vironment that is calculated distinctly to en- 
courage ideal production. Every mechanical 
operation in the manufacture of the ignition 
appartus is produced by automatic equipment 
of special design. 

There is that "spirit of quality" ideal in every 
move of the j^lant workers, who are among the 
most skilled auto workmen to be found any- 
where in the country. Philadelphia, by the 
way, employs more than 100,000 machinists in 
its various factories and it is an unciucstioned 
fact that nowdiere are the workers better equip- 
ped for their "jobs." 

It is a great co-operative s'pirit that underlies 
l)roduction at the Atwater Kent Manufacturing 
W^orks. Every executive appreciates his spe- 
cialized responsibility in the production of a 
perfected ignition system, the same as does 
every worker. 

The result : the Atwater Kent system has 
the unciualified guarantee of excellence of 
manufacture and perfection of performance. 

"There's an .Vtwater Kent system for every 
car, electrically equipped or not," Mr. Kent 
proudly announces. 

For simplicity of construction and unfailing- 
ness of performance, autoists generally com- 
mend the Atwater Kent system, now known 
nationally through the persistence of Mr. Kent 
in placing in the markets of the country what 
is considered "the perfect ignition system." 



418 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




HENRY F. MICHELL 



"LJENRY F. MICHELL, president and treas- 
urer of the seed company that bears his 
name, was born in Switzerland. When he still 
was a child his parents moved to America. 
Thus he was enabled to have all the advan- 
tages of American development plus' the in- 
stincts of faithful and brave Swiss stock. 

:\Ir. Michell's first venture was inaugurated 
at 1018 Market Street, in 1890. The Inisiness 
was conducted in a small part of the tirst floor. 
His staff consisted of four employees'. 

The future head of a great concern began 
early to study his business from every angle. 
In a short while he laid out an elaborate plan 
lor development that today has resulted in one 



of the largest and most successful enterprises 
in his line. 

The present Michell establishment at 518 
Market Street is an immense building devoted 
entirely to the i)urposes of the concern, and 
also includes two large warehouses. The old 
staff of four employees has increased to more 
than 150. 

()ne of the best business strokes of the firm 
was the purchase in 1910 of land at Andalusia, 
liucks County, along the Penns3-lvania Rail- 
road. The nurseries cover about sixty acres. 

Mr. Michell's residence is at 3943 Chestnut 
Street. In addition to being president, treas- 
urer and a director in the Henrv F. ^lichell 



THE STORY OF PI 1 1 LADTLPIU A 



419 



Comjiany, he is alsci vice-president of the 
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, treasurer 
of Market Street Merchants' .Association, di- 
rector of Central Trust Compaii}-, also Bene- 
ficial Savings Fund Society and Whitemarsh 
X'alley Country Club. Member of Union 
League, Philadelphia, Seaview and Torresdale 
golf clubs, Chamber of Commerce and Phila- 
delphia P>oard of Trade. 

His knowledge of seeds' and flowers is prac- 
tical and he is an authority on all matters per- 
taining to horticulttire, agriculture, etc. 

CHARLES T. ROBINSON 

TN connection^ with the huge textile industry 
of Philadelphia, an industry that is respon- 
sible for much of the city's wealth and also for 
placing it as the third largest manufacturing 
city in the country, there are many business 
men who have risen to prominent places. They 
have done so by sheer ability and hard work. 

These men are to be found not only asso- 
ciated with mills and factories where textiles 
are manufactured, but in many branches of 
associated enterprises. They occupy places of 
vast consequence and are as much a part of 
the great textile industry as it is its'elf. With- 
out them, Philadelphia would unquestionably 
not be reckoned the great textile center that 
it is today. The bag and bagging business is 
one of these allied industries that has helped 
to spread the fame of the city. 

Charles T. Robinson is one of the best known 
dealers in bags' and bagging. He was born in 
Philadelphia on September 28, 1863. Educated 
in the public schools of his own city, after his 
graduation he entered a business career. 

]Mr. Robinson held several positions in all 
of which he distinguished himself by ef^cient 
management of whatever trust was imposed 
upon him. He received many promotions and 
was' rapidly forging ahead as one of the prom- 
ising younger business men of Philadelphia. 

During this time he kept more or less in 
touch with the bag and bagging enterprise 
founded by his father at 107-109 Walnut Street. 
After remaining with his last employer for 



some time he decided to af^liate with his 
father's business. 

Having a natural aptitude and inclination for 
the work, he soon was jdaced in charge of 
many of its' more important details. At the 
death of his father Mr. Robinson took over the 
control of the entire organization. The busi- 
ness only recently celebrated the fiftieth mile- 
stone of its founding by the elder Robinson. 

Charles T. Robinson attributes his success to 
hard work. Application to duty and the cour- 
teous treatment of all customers he believes is' 
the only way to successful accom])lishment. 

Mr. Robinson was married recently to Miss 
Claire M. Hackett, a daughter of Mrs. Emma 
M. Hackett. They have three children, a son 
and two daughters. 

The family always have taken an active in- 
terest in church affairs. Mr. Rol)inson is' a 
member of St. Philip's Episcopal Church. Much 
of the progress of the parish is due to his tire- 
less efforts in its behalf. 

He also is a devotee of outdcjor life. Golf is 
his favorite pastime. Many of his' spare hours 
are spent at the Seaview Golf Club, near Atlan- 
tic City. During the summer months he is 
daily on the links. He is considered to be one 
of the most expert golfers among the seashore 
colony. A participant in several tournaments 
in which also were engaged expert players, 
Mr. Robinson acquitted himself with credit. 
In proof of his' proficiency at the game he has 
several fine trophies. 

He also takes an active interest in golf club 
matters and is a liberal contributor to anything 
that will promote the spirit of amateur sport 
and healthy outdoor exercise. 

Mr. Robinson is a mem1:)cr of the Manufac- 
turers' Club of Philadelphia. In this organi- 
zation as well as others in which he is inter- 
ested he is' associated with every movement 
that tends to promote its welfare and progress. 
He also maintains an active part in the work 
in many civic bodies. He is connected with 
several military organizations. 

]\Ir. Robinson belongs to the INIasonic fra- 
tcrnitv and is a member of Lodge No. 9. 



420 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




FREDERICK J. MICHELL 



\/fICHELL'S seed, plant and \m\h emi)()rium 
at 518 Market Street, Thiladelphia, is one 
of the best known mercantile houses in the 
Quaker City. Its trade is enormous, its con- 
nections widespread and its reputation for fair 
dealing and the excellence of its products 
stands deservedly high. ( )f the Ilenry F. 
Michell Company, which owns and controls 
the popular estaldishment, Frederick J. 
Michell. the subject of this brief sketch, is vice- 
president and treasurer. 

Mr. Michell is a product of Switzerland, hav- 
ing been born in the historic mountain land 
of Wiliam Tell on Afarch 15, hS56. His father 



was loseph Michell and his mother, before 
her marriage, Marie Staehli, and each came of 
families well known and highly esteemed. Mr. 
Michell's earl}- education was begun in the 
public schools of his native town, l:)ut coming 
to the United States at an early age he spent 
some years in the schools of Philadelphia and 
the State before he l-JCgan his life work. He 
has now been associated with the seed busi- 
ness for many years' and has had an extended 
and varied experience of its every possible 
detail. 

In addition to his lousiness activities, which 
are necessarilv many and pressing, Mr. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



421 



Miclull is \icc-])rcsidcnt of the Xational liank 
t)f Kidli'y I'ark, Delaware County, where he 
resides, and is also direetor of the Ridley I'ark 
Huildini,'- Association. lie serxcd for seven 
}-ears as member of the Horoiigh C'onneil and 
as director of the Ridley Park Social did) 
identifies himself as keenly with its social life 
as with its more material interests. He is also 
an acti\e member of the White Haven Sana- 
torium and of the Knights of Columbus. 

Mr. Michell is a Republican in ptditics. and 
in religit)!! is a Roman Catholic. He w^as mar- 
ried in Philadelphia k>bruary 18, 1879, to 
Madeline I'eckman and has ten children, live 
sons and live daughters. ( )ne of his sons he 
lost in I*"rance during the war between the 
Cnited States' and (Germany. His residence 
address is, as has been said, Ridley Park, 
Delaware County, Pa., and his business ad- 
dress 518 Market Street, Philadelphia. 

RICHARD H. M. ROBINSON 

XyHEN Richard Hallet .Aleredith Robinson 
\\'as elected president of the Chester Ship- 
building Company, of Chester, Pennsylvania, 
merit alone was recognized and the right man, 
in every sense of the word, selected. In only 
too many instances the president of a public 
company, or other such corporation, is merely 
a figurehead, A\ho is absolutely ignorant of the 
practical working of the organization which 
he dominates and controls and whose knowd- 
edge of its technicalities is of a nature and 
character necessarily limited and, as' a direct 
consecpience, is necessarily imperfect, or de- 
fective. In Mr. Robinson's case the very op- 
posite of this anomalous condition of affairs 
exists, for it was solely to his intimate knowl- 
edge of shii)building in its' every possible de- 
tail, and to a long and varied experience in 
this essential respect that his appointment to 
the presidency of the great corjxjration was 
due. 

His cpuditications fcjr the responsible and 
exacting office were, and are. simply of the 
highest possible type and standard, and in 
recognition of the fact, and in this fact alone, 
he was given the appointment. 



I'.y birth Mr. Ro])inson is a ])roduct (jf the 
r.ueke}e State, having been bcjrn in Rcnenna, 
( )hio, April 2, 1875. Son of George Foreman 
and Mary ((Jillis) Robinson, he received 
his elementary education in the pul)lic schools 
and later became a cadet at the United States 
Xaxal Academy at Anna])olis. Mere he 
studied hard, and in 1896 graduated with lirst 
honors. 

He then entered the University of (jlasgow, 
.Scotland, where he went through an exhaustive 
course in naval architecture and engineering 
and from which he graduated' in 1898. 

Mr. Robinson then entered the United States 
Navy, with which he was actively associated 
for many years. He served in all ranks from 
midshipman tcj and including lieutenant com- 
mander (na\al construction) until 1902, when 
he became attached to the Brooklyn Xa\}' 
Yard. Here he remained three years and in 
1905 was api)ointed assistant naval constructor 
in the Navy Department at Washington, D. C, 
where he remained until 1913. In all these 
positions, within all these years of strenuous 
work, he acquired a large, thorough and varied 
experience of shii) construction in its every 
possible detail, and the vast knowledge so 
acquired he now puts into practical operation 
in the position of such great responsibility 
which he now so efificiently fills. 

Along with l)eing i)resident of the Chester 
Shipbuilding Company, Mr. Robinson is also 
l)resident of the Merchant Shipbuilding Cor- 
poration and managing director of the Lake 
Torpedo P>oat Company, of Bridgeport, Conn. 

He is a proiuinent member of the Markham 
Club of Philadelphia, of the Navy and Army 
Club of Washington, of the University Club of 
Bridgeport. Conn., of the luigineers' and Uni- 
versity clubs of New York, and of the Rock- 
away Hunting Club. 

He is also a member of the Society of Naval 
Architects and Marine Iv.igineers, in which 
well-known organization he occupies the i)osi- 
tion of meml)er of Council. 

In jKilitics he is a Republican, and in re- 
ligion an ICpiscopalian. His residence address 
is 555 Park Avenue, New York City, and his 
business address, 165 P>roadway, New York 
Citv. 



42: 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




lti.:nrv ri.:i.:d iiatfikld. uiu- of the 

most eminent and most highly esteemed 
memlDers of the Philadeljihia Bar, is the son of 
Dr. Xathan Lewis Hatfield, who was for close 
on to sixty years a leader in the medical pro- 
fession in the Quaker City. Graduatincr from 
Jefiferson College in 1826, Dr. Hatfield soon 
acquired distinction, and in 1875 became presi- 
dent of the Alumni Association. During the 
greater part of his life, in which he enjoyed a 
large and lucrative i)ractice, he was probahl\- 
the best known physician in rhiladeli)hia or 
Pennsylvania. 

Dr. Hatfield and his son, the subject of this 
sketch, came of families long and })rominently 
connected with the states of Pennsyhania and 
New Jersey. The paternal grandfather of Mr. 
Hatfield served in the ^^'ar of 1812, wliile his 
paternal great-grandfather was a brave and 
distinguished soldier in the l\e\"ohitionar_\- 
A\'ar. C )ne of Air. Hatfield's maternal ances- 
tors — Ccjlonel Plenr}' Pawling — an official in 
the ser\ice of the Pritish crown, receixed in 



1682 a grant of many thousands of acres of 
land near Esopus, Ulster County, New^ York, 
while the names of others of such ancestors 
ai^pear in the list of those owning taxable 
properties in the Empire State at or about that 
date. The descendants of this Colonel Pawling 
— that is to say, Henry and John Pawling — 
were Justices of the Peace in Philadelphia, 
while another branch owmed and operated the 
old forge, known in American history as Val- 
ley Forge, and the famous headquarters of Gen- 
eral A\'ashington and the Patriot Army. In 
17.U John Ilatfield. another ancestor, had an 
extensive plantation in Montgomery County. 
Pennsvlvania, and gave the name Hatfield 
Township to a well-known district in that 
county. 

Henry Reed Hatfield was educated in the 
puldic schools of Philadelphia, and later 
entered the University of Pennsylvania, from 
which he graduated in 1878. Intending to 
adoi)t the profession in which his father had 
attained such eminence, he entered Jefiferson 
Medical College, and in 1881 graduated with 
the degree of Medical Doctor. Shortly after- 
wards he was' appointed assistant surgeon in 
the United States Navy and served some time. 
While so engaged the predilection for the pro- 
fession of law asserted itself, and, abandoning 
what promised to be a brilliant and successful 
career in the medical profession, he began the 
study of law. x\fter his' admission to the Bar 
he engaged in practice in Philadelphia, and in 
a remarkably short time attained ])rominence 
in his new profession, due, in a large degree, to 
the medical-legal training he had undergone 
and which was of inestimal)le adxantage to 
him. 

Mr. Hatfield is ])rominently connected with 
several of the most exclusive social and other 
clubs of Philadel])hia, including the Ritten- 
house, the Penn, the University, the Radnor 
Hunt and St. Anthony's. He was treasurer of 
the Law Academy of Philadelphia from 1885 
to 1912, and is also a member of tlie .Society of 
the War of 1812 and of the Delta Psi Frater- 
nity. He married Miss Alice Darling Craig, 
(laughter of Henry Craig, of Philadelphia, and 



THE SrORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



42: 



resicU'S at 1725 Walnut Street, but duriui;- the 
sunimer months, when not on tours in luirojK', 
which he frequently makes, occupies a hand- 
some country home at Bar Harbor, Maine. His 
office address is 723 Walnut Street, Philadel- 
])hia. 



rjR. NATHAN HATFIELD was the eldest 
son of Dr. Nathan Lewis Hatfield, both of 
whom were distinguished practitioners of medi- 
cine in Philadelphia, the former a noted sur- 
<^eon, while his father for over sixty years 
enjoved a large private practice in conjunction 
with obstetrics, in which he w^as pre-eminent 
for experience and success at a time when anti- 
•^eptics were unknown and anaesthetics unsafe. 

Both were graduated from the Jefferson 
Medical College, and both held positions in its 
association of Alumni, the father as president 
in 1875 and the son. secretary, and subse- 
(juently treasurer. 

Nathan Hatfield was born in Philadelphia 
May 6, 1844, and came of patriotic ancestry. 
1 lis paternal grandfather and great-grandfather 
were officers in the W^ar of 1812 and in the 
Revolution, respectively. The family planta- 
tions in New York and New Jersey appear 
among the list of taxable estates as early as 
1670. In 1682 one of his ancestors', Colonel 
Henry Pawling, who came to this country with 
(jovernor Nichols in the service of the English 
crown, was given a grant of several thousand 
acres of crown land in Ulster County near 
Esopus, in the State of New York, for meri- 
torious military service rendered in the Colo- 
nial W^ars and in amicable settlements with 
the Indians. Subsequently, John and Henry 
Pawling, his descendants, were justices of the 
Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia Coun- 
ty, associated with Isaac Norris, Samuel Mif- 
flin, Thomas Willing and others, from Decem- 
ber .S, 1733, the date of one of the commissions, 
until 1761, when the "list of Gentlemen recom- 
mended for justices to the governor on Febru- 
ary 28th." of that year contained the name of 
Henry Pawling. In 1734 John Hatfield, one 
of Nathan Hatfield's ancestors, lived on a plan- 



tation wliich he owned in Hatfield Township, 
Montgomery C(nmty, which township took the 
name from the family, which, however, was 
more closely identified with the Perkiomen 
N'alley and with the I '.randy wine, in Chester 
County, where they operated by water power 
what are said to have been the first rolling 
mills in America, but now long since disman- 
tled and even the sites where they sttjod but a 
memory. The tomb of Nathaniel Hatfield is 
to be found in the old I'.randywine ^lanor 
Burying Ground ; and the manor house in 
which lived his son, Samuel Hatfield, one of 
the incorporators of the Girard liank of Phila- 
delphia, is still in possession of the family in 
the midst of a tract of three hundred and fifty 
acres beautifully situated on the west branch 
of the romantic Brandywine Creek. Another 
ancestor of the family at one time operated the 
Old Forge, now Valley Forge, Pa., where 
Washington had his headquarters during the 
winter of 1777-78. and which is memorable for 
the sufferings of his army there and the serv- 
ices of Baron Steuben in discii)lining and in- 
structing it. 

Nathan Hatfield received his preliminary 
education at the Classical School of Henry D. 
Gregory, 1108 Market Street, Philadelphia, 
which his younger brothers, Douglas and W' al- 
ter, and his youngest brother, Henry Reed 
Hatfield, also subsequently attended. He was 
prepared for the University of Pennsylvania, 
which he entered at the age of fifteen years ; 
and in the following year was the outbreak of 
the Civil War. He volunteered in the Union 
Army, but on account of his youth was 
attached to the Cadet Corps and assigned to 
the Medical Department and stationed at the 
.\rmy Hospitals of Race Street and at H addon- 
field, where he was under the celebrated sur- 
geon. Dr. R. J. Le\is, medical officer in charge. 
This enabled him to continue his studies at the 
University, and in due course he received his 
degree of Bachelor of .Vrts in June. 1863. In 
1866 the degree of Master of Arts was con- 
ferred upon him. one year after his graduation 
in medicine, at the Jefferson Medical College, 
in 1865. 



424 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



He began the practice of medicine as an 
assistant to his father, Dr. Nathan Lewis Hat- 
field, and soon became prominent among the 
younger members of the Alumni of Jefferson 
Medical College as a practitioner, operator and 
teacher. He developed a taste for surgery, 
and became assistant to the great Samuel D. 
Gross, one of the first Americans to receive 
the degree of Doctor of Laws of Oxford Uni- 
versity, England ; Professor of Surgery at the 
Jefferson Medical College and author of a sys- 
tem of surgery, a most comprehensive work. 
He was successful as a quiz master, being one 
of the most popular members of the famous 
Robley Dunglison Quiz, as it was called, in 
which he had the branch of surgery. He was a 
thorough anatomist and a skillful operator. 
He introduced antiseptic operating while con- 
sultant to the Philadelphia Hospital after 
returning from a visit abroad for the purpose 
of acquainting himself with the latest knowl- 
edge in his profession and when antiseptic was 
a. novelty and not generally understood. At 
that time the means employed was the car- 
bonic acid spray, known as the Lister System. 

Besides his prominence in the Alumni of 
Jefferson Medical College he was President of 
the Northern Medical Society, consulting sur- 
geon to the State Hospital at Norristown and 
an active member of the Pathological, County 
Medical and other societies of Philadelphia, 
and a frequent delegate to the State Medical 
conventions. He was a man of commanding 
presence and refined manners, beloved by a 
large circle of friends, pupils and patients. His 
death occurred wdien he was but little past 
forty years of age. Li the short space of about 
twenty years, however, he achieved success 
not only professionally but financially, having 
amassed at the time of his death a considerable 
fortune entirely from his practice, having pre- 
deceased his father. Dr. Hatfield never mar- 
ried, lie died in Philadelphia January 6, 1S87. 

The following testimonial, entirely in the 
handwriting of the author, Professor S. D. 
Cross, above referred to, the nestor of Ameri- 
can surgery, was found among his papers, and 



seems fitting to be reproduced here. It is as 
follows : 

"It affords me great pleasure to state that I 
have been personally acquainted with Dr. Hat- 
field for many years ; that he received a classi- 
cal education in the University of Pennsyl- 
vania ; that the degree of Doctor of Medicine 
was conferred upon him by the Jefferson Med- 
ical College in 1865 ; that he served for three 
years under my charge and that of Professor 
I'ancoast on the surgical staff of our College; 
that he acted for several years as assistant dem- 
onstrator of anatomy in our dissecting room ; 
that in 1879 and '80 he spent the winter in 
Lurope in quest of professional knowledge, 
and finally that he is now one of the surgeons 
of the Philadelphia Plospital and of the North- 
ern Dispensary and Charity Hospital of Phila- 
delphia. Dr. Hatfield's moral character is 
above all praise. His titles are certainly worthy 
of serious consideration. Few men have 
entered the profession during the last fifteen 
vears \vith so good a record. S. D. GROSS. 

"Jefferson Medical College, June 16, 1881." 

pDWARD \\\\LTER CLARK, banker, was 
born in Philadelphia, May 17, 1857, and is 
the son of Edward White and Mary Tod- 
hunter (Sill) Clark. He graduated from the 
University of Pennsylvania, with the Degree 
of Bachelor of Science, in 1877, and after leav- 
ing the I'niversity was a clerk for four years. 
Since 1881 he has I)een in lousiness as a banker, 
and is now head of the banking firm of E. W. 
Clark and Company. He is also vice-president 
of the First National flank of Philadelphia; 
manager Lehigh Coal and Navigation Com- 
pany ; director Fidelity Trust Company, Trust 
Comi)any of North America, Alliance Coal 
Mining Company, Lehigh & New England 
Railroad Company, Allentoun I'erminal Rail- 
road Company, Nesquehoning Valley Railroad 
Company, Wilkes-liarre & Scranton Railroad 
Conq)anv, Tresckow Railroad Company, Dela- 
ware Division Canal Company. He was mar- 
ried in Philadelphia to Lydia Jane, daughter 
of Th(jmas A. Newhall. His office address is 
.S21 Chestnut street, Philadelphia. 



THE STORY OP PHILADELPHIA 



425 




EARNEST T. TRIGG. President of the 
Phi!a(leli)hia ClKiml)er (jf Gonimerce, is 
ser\-ing- his third term in that position, ha\ing 
been first eleeted in January, 1917. 

He is \'ice President atid (ieneral Manas^er 
i»f John Lucas and Company, Inc., paint manu- 
facturers. Mr. Trigg' occu])ies a notaV)le place 
in commercial and industrial life in Philadel- 
phia, being recognized as one of the leaders of 
the younger generation in industrial activities. 

He was also Regional Adviser for the h^)urth 
Region Resources and Conversion section of the 
War Industries Board, llis headquarters in this 
position was in l^hiladel])liia, and the Region 
o\er which he had jurisdiction comoriscd I'.astern 
Pennsyhania, the State of New Jersey, south of 
Trenton, and the State of Delaware. 

In the organization of this Region l(jr el- 
tective co-operative \vork with the War Indus- 
tries Board at Washini'ton. Mr. Trigg demon- 



■-trated that he possessed sterling (jualities of 
pt'rsexerance and a genius for detail. 

Despite the accumulation of activities which 
are engaging his time Mr. Trigg makes it a 
rule to devote a portion of his day to his labors 
as President of the Chamber of Commerce. 

."^o uni\ ersal are his talents along these lines 
that he was appointed to the im])ortant posi- 
tion of Philadelphia member of the Commit- 
tee' on Resolutions at the War Conxention of 
the ("hamber of Commerce of the I'nited 
States of America, held at Atlantic City in the 
fall of 1917. 

At the annual meeting of the National 
Chamber of Commerce held in Chicago, in the 
spring of 1918, Mr. Trigg was Chairman of 
this Comiuittee and as a result of his work in 
this important position he was honcjred l)y be- 
ing elected to the Board of Directors of the 
Chamber of Commerce of the United States. 

Gl'LORCib: II. ICVRLb: 
T AWYER, banker and financier, George W. 
Earle was born in Philadelphia, July 6. 
1856, and is son of George Hussey and Ella 
iM-ance (A^an Lohr) P^arle. He graduated from 
Harvard University in 1879, and in 1904 was 
awarded the honorary Degree of Master of 
Arts by his alma mater. He then studied law 
and was admitted to practice in the profession 
of which his father and grandfather had been 
notable members. He became a member of the 
legal firm of Earle & WHiite, which existed 
for twelve years, and conducted a large and 
lucrative practice. He was elected president 
of the Pennsylvania Warehousing and Safe 
Deposit Comi)any. and vice-president of the 
Guarantee Trust and Safe Deposit Company. 
1 lis many duties in these positions obliged him 
to withdraw from the active practice of the 
law. Later he was elected president of the 
Tradesmen's National Bank, he resigning at 
the same time his vice-presidency in the Guar- 
antee Company. 

.Mr. I'.arle is ])resident Finance Company of 
Pemisxhania, Real Estate Tru^t Companv, .South 



426 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



vania, Real Estate Trust Company, South 
Chester Tube Company, Pennsylvania Ware- 
housing and Safe Deposit Company, vice-presi- 
dent Tradesmen's National Bank, Market 
Street Elevated Passenger Railway Company. 
Electric Traction Company; voting trustee 
Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. He 
has successfully filled other important finan- 
cial positions and in 1898 he was appointed 
receiver for the Chestnut Street National 
Bank, and associated with R. Y. Cook, was as- 
signee of the Chestnut Street Trust and Savine: 
Fund Company. He became also a member t)f 
the Board of the Philadelphia Record Pul^lisli- 
ing Company and a director of the Equital)lc' 
Trust Company and many others. 

Mr. Earle has taken a deep interest in po- 
litical afifairs and has been a strong element in 
the struggle for municipal reform. He was an 
active member of the Committee of One Hun- 
dred and has always taken great interest in 
the cause of honest administration. He is a 
lovci' of fine horses and has one of the largest 
stock farms in Pennsylvania, at his simimer 
country seat. Broad Acres', near the Radnor 
Hunt. He was married in Philadelphia, De- 
cember 12, 1881, to Catherine D. French. His 
home address is Devon, Pa. 



ANDREW C. McGOWIX, vice-president of 
the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, is 
an illustrious example of a man who has 
worked himself up to big things by close a])pli- 
cation to his work and a clear understanding of 
the details of his business. This method of 
doing things, developed highly in his own busi- 
ness, he also In'ought into requisition in jmblic 
afifairs, when he became interested in them, 
and a like success folh^wed him into his civic 
life. 

Born in Louisiana of that excellent admix- 
ture, the Scotch-Irish, which has given great 
leaders' to industrial and political America, his 
l^arcnts removed to Pittsburgh, Pa., while 
Andrew was yet an infant. He received a 
public school education in that city, and began 
his l)usiness career there. He entered the shoe 



business, and learned it from A to Z, with that 
thoroughness in every detail which made him 
an invaluable salesman in both wholesale and 
retail lines. 

Thirty-three years ago Mr. McGowin re- 
moved to Philadelphia, where he has since 
been engaged in the shoe business, b^or the 
last thirty-one years he has been associated 
with ]uhn A\^anamaker. 




A.\DR1A\' C. Mc(.()\\ IN 

He li\es in ( )verbrook, and there are few 
l)ranches of country life in whicli he is not 
interested. A born leader of men as he is, he 
has set a pact- tv the activities of every club 
in which he liecame interested. lie is the 
president of tlie Meadowbrook Club, and a 
member of the Seaview Coif Clul); a life mem- 
ber of the Manufacturers' Clul). and is on the 
membership committee of the Union League. 
He is also a member of the Philadelphia 
Country Clul). 

Mr. McCowin was one of the founders of 



Tim STORY OF PIIILADELPIUA 



427 



the National Shoe Retailers Association, of 
which he was the hrst president. He is still 
l)resident of it, as he retained that ofificc snc- 
cessivelv hy re-election until last year, wdien 
he was made presiclent emeritus 1)_\' the asso- 
ciation. 

h\)r xMr. McCJowin, where\er he is associated, 
is esteemed not only for his excei)ti(inal ability 
to handle business jjroblems facing the particu- 
lar organization in question, concerning whose 
details he is sure to have a knowledge of ex- 
ceptional fullness, but, no less, for his rare 
judgment. His associates have l)ecome accus- 
tomed to rely upon that judgment, one involv- 
ing men as well as matters, as upon a rock. 
And because of the geniality of his disposition 
his counsels are given in a manner and spirit 
which makes them doubly acceptable. There 
is none of that autocratic method of dealing 
with others so common to men accustomed to 
have their judgment regarded as of great 
moment. He makes it as pleasant to come to 
him for judgment as it is' profitable to accept 
it. 

Mr. McGownn is perhaps best known for the 
important services he has rendered Philadel- 
phia by his leadership in the movement to 
maintain Philadelphia's high position as a 
manufacturing centre, and to develop the re- 
sources of the port. In all civic projects he 
has taken a foremost part. He is perhaps hap- 
piest of all in a cjuality he has in abundance, 
that of making and keeping friends. 

lyALTER COX, manufacturer, Philadelphia, 
was born in Chester County, Pa., Septem- 
ber 17, 1857, and is the son of Hewson and 
Mary ( Ricketts Camac) Cox. He received his 
elementary education in the public schools of 
his native place and later entered the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated 
with the degree of Bachelor and Master of 
Arts. 

He is now president of the Pennsylvania 
A\ ire Glass Company and director of the Al- 
dine Trust Company. He is also a member of 




WALTER COX 

the Franklin Institute, in the affairs of whioli 
he takes much active interest. 

Mr Cox belongs to the Republican party and 
is in religion an Episcopalian. He has never 
sought public office, and although interested, 
as a citizen, in all the political and social issues 
of the day he is affiliated with no political or- 
ganization, nor is he a member of any public 
institution. He is, however, a member of the 
Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity and is also a 
member of the Philadelphia Club, the Pine 
\'alley Golf Club, the Corinthian Yacht Club, 
the University Barge Club and the Cai)e May 
(;olf Club. 

Mr. Cox was married in May, 1SS2, to Han- 
nah Ashbridge, but has no children. I lis home 
address is 2029 Sansom street, and his business 
address 915 Pennsyhania Building. I'hiladel- 
nhia. 



42,S 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




SIDNEY IV' AS ON 



P\'^:RY\\Jlh:RI^: in the United States where 
ilhnninating gas is used — and where is it 
not? — is faniiHar with the W'elsl^ach burner, 
l)ut everyl)0(ly does not know that the W'els- 
bach Company, which controls its prochiction. 
is one of the leading institutions in America. 
Incorporated in 1900, in New jersey, to acc^uire 
a controlling interest in the stocks of the W'els- 
bach Light Company and the AWlsl^ach Com- 
mercial Company, it is capitalized at millions, 
and from its extensive plant in Cdoucester City, 
N. J., sends its popular if not absolutely neces- 
sary, products in an unending stream to every 
point of the compas's throughout the United 
States and across the Seven Seas. At its head 



are such well-kiunvn financial magnates as 
Samuel T. Bodine, Randal Morgan, Morris L. 
Clothier and others of nation-wide reputation, 
while as its president stands Sidney Mason, the 
subject of this sketch. This fact — that is to 
say the fact that he is president of this great 
company, with such men as his associates on 
the board of directors, is,, of itself, ample proof 
of his ability, for with such men ability, and 
ability alone, is the sui)reme test of efficiency 
and fitness. It, therefore, goes without saying 
that Mr. Mason is, in every essential particular, 
fully qualified for the position he holds, else he 
would never have been selected by such keen 
and successful Inisincss men for it. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



429 



Mr. Masuii was Ixirii in riiihuUliihia. Jaiiu- 
ar\- IS. 1S()7, and is llu' smi of John .Mason, jr.. 
and .Marv Idight ( 1 I a/.clhurst ) .Mason. 11 is 
education was rc'Ci'i\c'd in llu- ])uldic schools ot 
his nati\r cit}- and at the carl}- ai^'c of eig-htcen 
hi' startc(l in what proxcd to be a most suc- 
cessful life career. Me first entered the eni- 
])lo\nient of the Harrison brothers' C'onii)an}'. 
manufacturers of white lead, with an extensi\e 
plant in I'hiladeljihia. ilere he remained for 
two vi'ars. gaining a larg\' amount ot business 
training and experience, lie was then trans- 
ferred to the Western W hite Lead Works, at 
Kensington. i'hiladel])hia, where he remained 
about two years' more. .\t this period he ac- 
cei)ted an office position in Cramps' llrothers 
foundries, but failing to see in it the \ista of a 
brilliant future ahead. accepted a minor position 
in the Philadelphia city sales department of the 
Welsbach Company. I'^ven then he realized 
that the outlook for the company was an ex- 
ceptionally bright one. and in this respect his 
iudgment and his decision to identify himself 
with the corporation were not at faidt. 

He had not occitpied his initial position with 
the company very long until his ability, zeal 
and devotion to his w ork were recognized, and 
being recognized were rewarded. Promotion 
came as a result, and he was transferred to the 
general office of the company as chief clerk. 
This was but the ste])ping stone t(j steady if 
not rajud advancement, the culmination of 
wdiich is the ])residenc}- of the great corpora- 
tion, an office he has now held for man_\- }-ears. 
with ever-increasing credit to himself and ma- 
terial advantage to the large interests which it 
is his duty to conserve and to promote. 

Besides being president of the Welsbach 
Company, and of its many subsidiaries. Mr. 
-Mason is a director of the Lake Superior Cor- 
])oration and the companies identihed with it 
and is also a director of the Macbeth i'.vans 
Company and of the Storrs -Mica I'ompany. 
He is a member of the historic In-anklin Insti- 
tute of Philadelphia, of the .American Gas 
-Xssociation and of the Ubuuinating I'higineer- 
ing Society. He is connected with no fraternal 
or beneficial associations, but is a prominent 



and acti\e member of many clubs, -including 
the Union League and .Markham Clubs of 
Philadel|>hia. the Lawyers' Club of Xew York. 
the Philadeli)hia C"ountry, the .Merion Cricket 
and the Sea\ iew (j(df clubs. 

.Mr. -Mason is a Re])nblican who has taken, 
and still takes, a keen and absoi-bing interest 
in the well being and (kwelopnient of his natix'c 
cit}-, but has never asi)ire(l to jiublic ohice. lb- 
was married in Philadi'liihia, lune .24, 1S')7. to 
i'dlen < )rtoii Sherrerd. His residence address 
is the .\ldine iiotel, Phila(lel])hia, and his busi- 
ness address ( lloncester Citv. X. j. 




LJAPRV Kh:XXlM)Y COP IKKilPr. one of 
the leading and most i)rominent wdioiesale 
coal merchants of Philadel])hia, is in that ])ar- 
ticular business from the force of heredit}', 
pure and simple. His grandfather was one of 
the original pioneers in the \ast anthracite 
regions of the Keystone State, throughout 
which he was widely known and highly 
esteemed. His son. father of the subject of 



430 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



this sketch, was also prominent in the coal 
Ijusiness, so that it was entirely within the 
order of things that Harry Kennedy Cortright 
should devote his life work to the business. 
This he has done with eiTect. and among the 
A\hole coal disi)ensing fraternity of the (Juaker 
City there is no man who understands the busi- 
ness more thoroughly and few men to whom a 
greater measure of unqualified sviccess has 
come. 

Mr. Cortright's family, on the paternal side, 
was pure Dutch. The first member of it came 
to America in 1663, so that Mr. Cortright rep- 
resents the tenth generation of the Cortright 
family in the land of the free. ( )n the mother's 
side Mr. Cortright is of the sturdy and enter- 
prising Scotch-Irish stock, his maternal grand- 
father being John Kennedy, of Port Kennedy, 
Pennsylvania, a man extensively known and 
much respected in his day and generation. 

Mr. Cortright was born in Mauch Chunk, 
Pennsylvania, July 14, 1882, his father being 
Nathan Dodson Cortright and his mother, be- 
fore her marriage, Margaret Kennedy. From 
the public schools of his native town, where he 
received his' elementary education, he de- 
veloped into the Mauch Chimk high school, 
and from thence went to Mount IMeasant 
Academy, Ossining, New York, from which he 
graduated with honors. He next entered the 
University of Pennsylvania, graduating from 
that institution in the class of 19CM-. He then 
started his life work in the coal business, 
which he has' made an undoubted success. He 
is president of the Cortright Coal Company, 
vice-president of the Beaver Run Coal Com- 
pany, of the Boucher-Cortright Coal Company 
and of the Philadelphia Wholesale Coal Trade 
Association, and is a director of the National 
Coal Jobbers' Association. He is also a promi- 
nent member of the Philadelphia Chamber of 
Commerce and of the Phi Kappa Psi Fra- 
ternity. His recreations are golf, squash and 
tennis and the social and other clubs in which 
he holds membership are the Racquet of Phila- 
delphia, the Philadelphia Country, the Spring - 
haven Country and the Phi Kappa Psi. 



Mr. Cortright is a Repu])lican in politics, 
and in religion is a Presbyterian. He was mar- 
ried in Mauch Chunk, June 16, 1909, to Hazel 
Packer, and his children are Hazel Lockhart 
and Margaret Kennedy Cortright. 




STANLEY R. STAGER 

A CF\E for acre, or mile for mile, there is not 
in the world a larger or busier mill 
district than that of Kensington, the center of 
the woolen, carpet and lace industr}- of Phila- 
delphia. 

A veritable city in itself, its daily toilers 
number very many thousands, and the factories 
that give emj^loyment to these are as "thick as 
leaves in Vallambrosa." 

Notable among these factories is that of 
Jonathan Ring and Son, standing at the cor- 
ner of Hancock Street and Montgomery Ave- 
nue. It gives employment to hundreds of toil- 
ers, and its products in yarns are well known 
all over the United States. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



431 



The presitlcnt and manag'ing' dircctur of this 
hrni i)t Stanley R. Stager. Uorn in Sacgertown, 
I*enns_\ 1\ ania. in 1883, he is the son of Harlow 
A. Stager, and his wife, Ellen Stager, nee 
llausel, and both parents are living at Union 
I'itv. Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Stager received his early education at 
the ])ul)lic schools'. At the age of fifteen he 
went to C'hicago where he secured a position 
with the famous mail-order firm of Sears, Roe- 
buck and Company, as "search l)oy" in the 
complaint department. In this cajiacity his 
work was earnest and unremitting and recog- 
nition of it followed in less than one year w-hen 
he was i)romoted to the position of correspond- 
ent. Owing probably to too strict attention to 
business his health began to fail at this period, 
and to recuj)erate it he went to Northwestern 
Nebraska, as bookkeeper for the Bassett Hard- 
ware and Supply Company. After a year there 
he came to Philadelphia, in 1902, as clerk in 
the office of the Pure Oil Company. 

Here, as in Chicago, promotion quickly fol- 
lowed recognition of his al:)ility, and he was 
made auditor of the company, a position he 
held until 1910. when he accepted that of treas- 
urer of Jonathan Ring and Son, Incor])orated. 

Here, again, further advancement was meted 
him, as it was justly earned, and on January 1, 
1914, he became president of the firm, an office 
he now fills with credit to himself and benefit 
to the firm. 

^Ir. Stager is a member of the American 
Academy of Political and Social Science, and is 
also connected with the Pennsylvania Society 
of New York and with the Masonic Order. His 
recreation is golf, and the clubs in which he 
holds membership are the Whitemarsh Valley 
Country, the Manufacturers and the Rotary. 

He is a Republican in politics, and a Presby- 
terian in religion, is closely connected with and 
interested in the First Presbyterian Church of 
Germantown. 

In November, 1909, he married VAs'xc Lenorc 
Ring, l)y whom he has one son, Stanley R. 
Stager, Jr. 

His residence is 3227 A\'est Pcnn Street, 
Germantown, Philadelphia, and his business 



address Hanccjck Street and Montgomery 
Avenue, Philadelphia. 



GEORGh: 1). PORTER 

"TpHE. l)est police head Philadelphia ever 
had." 

This was the trilnite jjaid the lion. (Jeorge 
D. Porter at the conclusion tjf his term as 
Director of the Department of Pul)lic Safety 
in the Plankenburg administration. 

Mr. Porter's administration of that office 
was commended in virtually every part of the 
country. The department, under Director Por- 
ter, was conducted in a straight, business-like 
way, with no tinge of political favoritism and 
with disregard for every administrative fea- 
ture that did not spell efficiency. 

During his incumbency of the office Director 
Porter was the "right hand man" of Mayor 
Blankenburg. He was consulted by the late 
mayor on virtually all matters pertaining to 
civic development and soon he became known 
as the "power behind the throne" in the gov- 
ernment of Philadelphia. 

Mr. Porter is' forty-four years old. 

He is a son of George S. and ]\larie Del- 
horbe Porter, and is a Philadelphian l)v adop- 
tion, although he comes from a family of Penn- 
sylvanians. His forefathers first settled in 
Lancaster County in the eighteenth century. 
His father was a soldier in the Civil War, hav- 
ing enlisted with the 197th Pennsylvania \^ol- 
unteers. Later he engaged in business as a 
merchant, and then became superintendent of 
a large ranch in Iowa. 

George D. Porter attend-.d the public schools 
of Iowa for a time. His family then removed 
to Georgia and he continued his studies there. 
He remained in that State until 1894, when he 
came to Philadelphia to accept a clerical posi- 
tion in the law office of J. Sergeant Price and 
J. Willis Martin. He was later associated with 
l-di Kirk Price. He became vice-president of 
the First Mortgage Guarantee and Trust Com- 
l)any in 1911. 



432 



THE STORY OF PHlLADELPhUA 



It was as' the urganizeT of the Municii)al 
J.eague that Mr. Porter made his dehut into 
h.cal ])olitics in 1S97. 'I"he league developed 
into an actixe force in the polities of ( lerman- 
town, and when the City (jarty was formed 
Porter was al)le to turn into that organizatitin 
an energetic corjis of wtjrkers. 

h'or three years Mr. Porter was secretary of 
the C'itv Conunittec of the City party. 1 le was 
secretary of the reform conx'ention of 1905. 
ddie same rear he was elected to Common 
Council. During his hve years of service there 
he fought to have the Police Pension Jnmd 
])laced on a permanent basis and he fought the 
transit agreement lietween the City and the 
Philadelphia Kai)i(l Transit C.impany. 

Director Porter, his wife and son, Koilman, 
live in (iermantown. lie is a mend)er of many 
social, civic and educational societies, lie was 
an organizer and charter member of the City 
Club, and is a mendter of the Voung Republi- 
can Clul) of (iermantown, the (iermantown 
and Chestnut Mill Improvement Association, 
the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the 
Revolution, the Historical Society of Pennsyl- 
\ania, the American ( ieographical Society, the 
Site and Relic Society of (iermantown. the 
City History Club. Philadelphia Cricket Cdub. 
He was. at one time, Scout Couuuissioner lor 
I'hiladelphia of the I'.oy Scouts of America, 
and is a member of several charitable and 
church organizations. 

pi'.RCY MLLTON CHANDLP:R. the well- 
known financier of Philadelphia, and senior 
meud)er of the banking firm of Chandler and 
(."ompany, is generally conceded to i)e amongst 
the most astute and well-informed men of this 
important line of business in the (Quaker City. 

Alert to everv factor or circumstance that is 
likely to directly or remotely influence the 
world of finance, he is regarded as a high au- 
thority in the Stock Exchange, where his 
views and o])inions are eagerly sought and en- 
joys a reputation second to that of no other 
financier in the city. 

His methods are based on the foundation of 
experience and those, and they are many, who 



rel\' uj)on and are guided or influenced by his 
judgment, seldom if ever, find that judgment 
at fault. Mr. Chandler was born in Philadel- 
])hia h'ebruary 6, 1873, and came of that sturdy 
old (Quaker stock so long and so intimately 
associated with the Cit\' of William Penn. 




PERCY Al. CHANDL1:R 

lie recei\'e(l a liberal education in that old 
and well-known scholastic institution, the 
h'rieiids" (^'entral Scho(d, and upon his gradtia- 
tion entered the eniplo}inent of the Pennsyl- 
\-ania Railroad CcMupany. 

W bile thus engaged he devoted all his spare 
moments to the study of law. In this he was 
most i)ersistent and assiduous, and the result 
was that he was admitted to the Par of Phila- 
delphia in 1894. His ambition to become a 
lawyer thus gratified, the further practice of 
his profession seems to have had no attraction 
for him. He never engaged in such practice, 
but, instead became interested in finance. 



/•///: srok']' oi' riiiLAniii.rm, 



■\. 



hi jaiuiary, 1899. he entered the I'hiladel- 
pliia l'"xchang"e, estal)lishing offices in associa- 
tion with his l)rother, L'rederick T. Chandler. 
In November of the s'ame year the hrni of 
Chandler Brothers and Company was organ- 
ized. This was successful from the start, and 
is now one of the leading hnancial institutions 
of the city. 

Mr. Chandler's reliable judgment and the 
conlidence which sucli judgment has created 
liaye been the chief factors in this success, and 
another not less potent has been his willing- 
ness to guide inyestors through the puzzling 
mazes of perpetual fluctuations. In this re- 
spect he is the investor's mentor and friend 
and the investor invariably finds that his guid- 
ance and advice contribute most materially to 
his financial advantage. In this' respect and 
in many others, ]Mr. Chandler has won a most 
enviable reputation and has made hosts of 
friends. 

In private life his many and sterling social 
qualities are fully recognized and the Art and 
other clubs of which he is a member, as well 
as the Masonic fraternity, regard him as one 
of their most lovable and most esteemed asso- 
ciates'. 

Although fully and keenly interested in local 
politics so far as they relate to all civic re- 
forms, he is not a politician, but has always 
been a stalwart member of the Republican 
party. 

He is a director of many corporations and is 
one of the most active and earnest trustees of 
Temple University. 

^Ir. Chandler was married to Miss' Menden- 
hall. daughter of Mrs. Aaron Mendenhall, of 
the Afarlyn Apartments, Fortieth and Walnut 
Streets. Philadelphia. She died in July, 1916, 
and in Xovember, 1917, he married Miss 
Xancy Krebs, of \\'inchester. Va 

(^AJTAIN A. F. BROWN, the subject of 
this' sketch, is a most prominent figure in 
the transportation and lighterage business of 
Philadelphia and the firm of which he is presi- 
dent, director and controlling spirit, that is the 
Philadeli)hia Transportation and Lighterage 



Com])any, is one of the l)est e(piip])ed. the 
most enterprising, the most resourceful and 
the most successful in the United States. Nor 
could it well I)e (otherwise. Mr. T.rown, its 
head and brains, has made transportation the 
business of a strenuous, upright and honor- 
able b'fc, and iliere is no phase of the business 
of which he has not had large and varied ex- 
perience and no details of it that he is not 




A. F. P.ROWN 

absolute master of. l""(>r man}' }ears he has 
most successfully transported \arious com- 
modities, from piling, lumber and immense 
boilers, to all kinds ui machinery and all kinds 
of bridge and tunnel material, with a multi- 
])licity of their necessary accessories — from 
North to South and from East to W'est. 

Everything that needs prompt and efficient 
transit from one point to another comes within 
the scope of his extensive and ever growing 
business and in everv single instance he af- 



434 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



fords the utmost satisfaction to those whose 
work he undertakes to do. 

His word is as good as the ordinary man's 
bond, and once he makes a promise to per- 
form a contract that contract is absolutely sure 
of performance if no decidedly insuperable 
obstacles stand in the way. 

Mr. Brown, to repeat, knows the transporta- 
tion business thoroughly and with those on 
lines akin to it he is also familiar to a remark- 
able degree. He was, for instance, a pioneer 
in the original scheme of dredging, washing 
and screening bar sand and Jersey gravel and 
was also a pioneer in the establishment of the 
Atlantic Deeper AN'aterways Association, of 
which he is still a prominent and active 
member. 

Along the water front of Philadelphia he is 
a familiar figure and exceedingly jiopular with 
all classes. 

Mr. r.rown was l)orn in Philadelphia and is 
a son of James and Margaret (Patterson) 
Brown, each of whom came c;f families well 
known and highly esteemed. 

He received his education in the public 
schools of his native citv and afterwards at- 
tended a course of instruction in the Pierce 
Business College, Philadelphia, from which he 
graduated. He then began the active and hon- 
orable business career in which he has made 
a reputation that any man might envy. 

Besides being president of the Philadelphia 
Transportation and Lighterage Company he 
is also president of the Vessel Owners' and 
Captains' Association of Philadelphia and is 
director of the National Board of Steam Navi- 
gation. He is a prominent member of Rich- 
mond Lodge, No. 230, of Free and Accepted 
^lasons; of Columbia Royal Arch Chapter, No. 
91 ; of Philadelphia Commandery, No. 2, 
Knights l>mplar of Pennsylvania, and of Lulu 
Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Philadelphia. 

Mr. Brown is also a member of the Traffic 
Club of Philadelphia, the Pen and Pencil Club, 
and the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. 

In politics he is a stalwart Republican, but 
has never held office, and in religion is an 
Episcopalian. 



He was married in Philadelphia, in 1S90, to 
Anita Hanar. and has two children, daughters. 
Plis residence is 1505 West Allegheny Ave- 
nue, Philadelphia, and his business address is 
119 Walnut Street, Philadelphia. 




SAMUEL P. SADTLI^K, I'h.lJ.. LL.D. 

T^llE sul)ject of this sketch. Samuel P. 
Sadtler, whether as an author of standard 
books of reference, a lecturer, a professor of 
chemical science in both college and university 
or as a research worker in the laboratory, has 
demonstrated to the fullest extent both indus- 
try and ability of the highest order and has 
established a reputation which is not only 
nation-wide, so far as America is concerned, 
l)ut international. 

He holds degrees from the Pennsylvania Col- 
lege, at Gettysburg, Harvard University and 
the University of Gottingen. Germany, and in 
the course of his professional life has been pro- 
fessor of chemistry in Pennsylvania College, 
Gettysburg, Pa. ; professor of organic and in- 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



435 



(lustrial chemistry in the L'ni\ ersity (if I't-nn- 
sylvania ; professor of chemistry in tlie i'hila- 
(lelphia College of Pharmacy, and for over 
thirt}--h\e years has l)een active as an expert 
in chemical patent litigation. Although re- 
tired from teaching he remains the head and 
controlling spirit of the firm of Samuel T. 
Sadtler and Son, consulting and analvtical 
chemists, of Philadelphia. 

I'rofessor Sadtler was born in Pine (irove, 
Schuylkill Count}-, Pennsylvania, July 18, 
1847. His father, the Rev. Benjamin Sadtler, 
D.D.. was a Lutheran minister and for ten 
}ears was })resident of Muhlenberg College, at 
Allentown, Pennsylvania. His grandfather on 
the maternal side was the Rev. Dr. S. S. 
Schmucker, founder of the Lutheran Theolog- 
ical Seminary at Gettysburg, and for nearlv 
forty years chairman of the faculty of that 
well-known institution. 

As somewhat in the nature of a natural se- 
(pience Professor Sadtler's lines in life were 
cast in harmony A\ith those of his distin- 
guished ancestry and, as in the case of his 
father and grandfather, met with singular dis- 
tinction and success. The rudiments of his 
eflucation he received in the public schools of 
I"laston, I'ennsylvania, and later he entered the 
High School at Easton, from which he grad- 
uated with high honors. 

In the fall of 1862 he entered the I'ennsyl- 
vania College at Gettysburg. ( )vving to the 
encroachment of the Confederate army, result- 
ing in the battle of Gettysburg, the college 
was closed in 1863, and it was not until 1867 
that he graduated with the Degree of liachelor 
or Arts. 

In the earlier part of his college career he 
devoted his attention to the classics, but later, 
at the suggestion of Professor Alfred M. 
Mayer, then professor of Chemistry and Phy- 
sics at the college, he turned his efforts to 
distinctly scientific subjects. \\\ the fall of 
1867 he entered Lehigh L"ni^■ersity to begin his 
study of chemistry, physics and mineralogy. 
The following year he entered the Lawrence 
Scientific School of Harvard University as an 
advanced student under Dr. W'olcott Gibbs, 



then the most distinguished chemist in the 
Cnited States. J laving completed the research 
work re(|uired for a thesis in January, 1870, 
he passed his examination for the Degree of 
I'achelor of Science. In the same vear he 
sailed for luiropc to complete his studies in 
Gnttingen I'niversity, under Wohler, one of 
the m(.st distinguished scientists of the old 
world. 

In 1871, Professor Sadtler left G(">ttingen 
with the Degree of Doctor of Philosoi)hy, and 
after extended travel in luirope returned to 
America and became ])rofessor of chemistry in 
Tennsyhania College, his alma mater. Here he 
remained until 1874, when he came to Philadel- 
])hia to beccjme professor of general and organic 
chemistr}- in the University of I'ennsylvania. 
In 1879 he was, in addition, selected to relieve 
Professor Rol)ert Bridges, then at an ad\anced 
age, in the 1 Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, 
and in the following year succeeded him in the 
professorshi]) of chemistr}' at that institution. 

He was elected a trustee of the college and 
served upon many important committees' dtir- 
in.g his active connection with the institution. 

In 1891 he resigned his professorship in the 
L^ii\ersity of I'ennsylvania and since that time 
has devoted himself activel}- tc; his profession 
of consulting chemical expert. 

In this connection he has been called to all 
parts of the L'nited States from coast to coast, 
and became intimatel}- accpiainted with the 
\'arious branches of industrial chemistr\- from 
personal contact. 

Professor Sadtler's published works cover an 
extensive field of chemical and pharmaceutical 
literature and have long since been regarded as 
standard books of reference. His first literary 
efi'ort in 1877 was a Handbook of Chemical 
Experimentation. Three years later he became 
associated with Dr. H. C. Wood and Professor 
loseph P. Remington, in a revision of the 
L'nited States Dis^ensatorv, a valuable refer- 
ence book, of which he was the chemical 
editor. This connection continued to the issue 
of the last edition within a year past. 

In 1891, he i)ublished his Industrial ( )rganic 
Chemistr\-, which has had mruu' editions and 



436 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



has circulated extensively in authorized Ger- 
man and Russian translations. In 1895, in 
collaboration with Professor Henry Trimble 
he published Sadtler and Trimble's Pharmaceu- 
tical and Medical Chemistry, which has run 
through five editions and is regarded as a most 
valual^le and exhaustive work. 

In 1890, 1900 and 1910 he attended the na- 
tional conventions for the revision of the 
United States Pharmacopoeia, and at the con- 
vention of 1900 was elected member of the 
standing committee on revision, and still con- 
tinues in that connection. 

It goes without saying that Professor Sadt- 
ler is a prominent member of the many scien- 
tific societies. Pie is a member of the Ameri- 
can Philosophical Society, of which he was 
secretary for four years ; the American Asso- 
ciation for the Advancement of Science ; the 
American Chemical Society, on the council of 
which he ser\ed for }ears ; the .\merican 
Electro-Chemical Society, of which he was 
vice-president ; the Franklin Institute, the 
Society of Chemical Industry, and the Societe 
de Chimic Industrielle. He was a charter 
member and the first president of the Ameri- 
can Institute of Chemical Engineers. 

He is a trustee of the Philadelphia College of 
Pharmacy, and is president of the Publication 
Board of the General Council of the Lutheran 
Church. He is also a member of the Univer- 
sity Club and the Engineers' Club of Phila- 
delphia, and the Chemists' Club of New York. 

Professor Sadtler is' an Independent Repub- 
lican in politics. He was married in P>alti- 
more, December 17, 1872, to Al. Julia Bridges, 
and his children, four in number, are Samuel 
S. Sadtler, born in 1873 ; Philip B. Sadtler, born 
in 1884; IHla, now Mrs. R. N. Riddle, born in 
1878, and Alice H., born in 1888. 

His residence address is 4000 Baltimore 
Avenue, I^hiladelphia, and his office address is 
210 South Thirteenth Street, Philadelphia. 

PATRICK )US McMANUS 

npH hL railroad has been one of the potential 

factors of civilizaztion in the United 

States. AMierever its iron tracks have pene- 



trated, or the panting of its locomotives are 
heard, there progress has made its imprint and 
there the process of evolution has already be- 
gun. And, if the railroad be such a factor in 
the development of the resources of a country 
and in the creation and expansion of every ma- 
terial good within it, it logically follows that 
the man who constructs such a pathway to 
progress is of more than average importance 
and is entitled to far more than average credit. 

( )ne of these men — men who are just as 
much the benefactors of their race as he who 
makes two blades of grass' grow where one 
grew before — is Patricious McManus, the 
subject of this sketch. For over half a cen- 
tury Mr. McManus has been engaged in every 
branch of railroad construction, and the monu- 
ments of his skill, energy and constructive 
ability dot the great State of Pennsylvania 
and bear evidence of his superiority in this 
great and extensive field of human endeavor. 

But then heredity has probably something 
to do with his life work and successes, for he 
comes from families of contractors both on the 
paternal and maternal sides. His father was, 
during his lifetime, engaged in the construc- 
tion of important railroad work throughout the 
State, while his maternal grandfather was a 
well-known pioneer contractor in the eastern 
part of the United States, and had an impor- 
tant and conspicuous part in the construction 
of the Hudson River Railroad, the Erie Canal 
and the famous old Portage Road over the 
Alleghenies to Pittsburgh. 

Patricious McManus was born in Pottsville, 
Pa., November 22, 1847, and was the son of 
John and Anna (McGovern) McManus. He 
received a thoroughly good education in the 
public schools of Lancaster County and later 
attended the Macungie Institute, in Lehigh 
County. After his graduation he was em- 
ployed by his maternal grandfather, and while 
thus engaged become familiar with every de- 
tail of the business. 

As an illustration of the rapidity and com- 
pleteness with which he mastered these de- 
tails, and as an example also of his construc- 
tive and executive abilitv. it may be inci- 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



43; 



(lentally mentioned that when but nmeteeu 
years old he entered into a eontract to build a 
section of eleven miles of the Sunbury and 
Lewiston Railroad. Such an undertaking 
would have been difficult to a mature mind of 
vast experience, and the fact that he com[)leted 
the work within the prescribed time, and to the 
utmost satisfaction of those with whom he had 
made the contract was little short of a marvel, 
and naturally excited, at the time, both amaze- 
ment and the fullest measure of public appre- 
ciation. 

As a natural result of the interest aroused by 
and in his work jNIr. McManus was brought 
into much prominence, and equally as a logical 
outcome of his remarkable feat important 
work in Philadelphia was the erection of the 
stockyards in that city. He next constructed 
the entire track system at the exposition 
grounds during the Centennial celebration in 
1876, and for this excellent work was highly 
commended. He also erected the station for 
the Pennsylvania Railroad at Thirty-second 
and Market Streets, and constructed the entire 
track system there. Later he double-tracked 
the line to Atlantic City, X. J., for the Phila- 
delphia and Reading Railroad Company and 
did this so well and so expeditiously as to gain 
further commendation, both from the company 
officials and from the general public. 

He also constructed the mason work of two 
bridges over the Schuylkill Rive*- and con- 
structed the waterways' and roadbed of South 
b^ork and Johnstown, Pa., after the terrible 
flood that had practically obliterated the latter 
city. 

Some of the most difficult and exacting work 
ever done on the Pennsylvania Railroad sys- 
tem was performed by Mr. Mc^Manus. He it 
was who designed and constructed the perfect 
system of tracks at Broad Street Station, 
l^hiladelphia. which even now are the admira- 
tion of railway men and the model held up for 
other similar works, and it was he who 
changed the line at Conewago, Hillsdale, Bix- 
ler, Bennington and Xew^ton-Hamilton. He 
also built for the Pennsylvania Company the 
tunnel for the Philadelphia, Baltimore and 
Washington division, imder the main line in 
West Philadelphia, and the tunnel luider the 



\ew York division tracks at Thirty-tifth 
Street. 

Mr. McManus' more recent work includes 
the l)uilding of the track system of the Phila- 
delphia and Reading subway and the recon- 
struction of the old Dismal Swamp canal in 
Virginia and South Carolina and the making 
of a waterway from Chesapeake Bay to Albe- 
marle Sound. He also executed a large amount 
of macadam work in and around the vicinity 
of Philadelphia, and made all the excavations 
for and double-tracked the electric line from 
Camden to /Xtlantic City for the Pennsylvania 
Railroad, completing the section from New- 
held to the seashore, a distance of forty miles, 
in the almost incredibly short time of four 
months. 

From 1884 until 1894 he was in partnership 
with his half-brother, James B. Reilly. but in 
the latter year purchased Mr. Reilly's interest 
and ran the business himself until 1897, when 
he organized the McManus Construction Com- 
pany, of which he is the general manager and 
president. 

The latest work of more than ordinary im- 
portance executed by Mr. McManus was that 
upon two sections of the low^ grade division of 
the Pennsylvania Railroad — one at Downing- 
town. Pa., and the other at Quarryville, Pa. — 
and the construction of the cut-off for the 
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad 
between Park Summit and Milford, Pa. 

This latter was a work of immense difficulty, 
both on account of the rock formation and the 
high altitude of the road, some of the bridges 
lieing as many as 250 feet above the water 
level. 

Mr. McManus is the oldest contractor in 
Pennsylvania, the best known, the best equip- 
\)Q(\ in all details' of track laying and other 
such works, and the most successful. 

He is a member of the Engineers' Club, the 
Athletic Club and the Friendly Sons of St. 
Patrick, and is keenly active in the affairs of 
each. 

He was married in 1867 to ]\Iary Jane 
Swengle, by whom he had four children, Re- 
gina, John A., lulward J., and Josephine. 

In January, 1888, he was married to Eliza- 
beth McGovern, by whom he had six children, 
Herliert, Anna, Marie Joseph. Leo Patricious, 
h'lizabeth and Gertrude. 



438 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




FREDERICK T. CHANDLER 

IN MEMORL'\^I 

December, 1863— Mav, 1918 



W 



nil':N Frederick T. Chandler, the well- 
known I'hiladelphia financier, l)on vivant 
and sportsman, died in May, 191S, there j)assed 
awav one of the most poj)tdar, the most pic- 
tures(pie and best beloved |)ersonalities in the 
Quaker Citv. To know him was to love him, 
and the esteem with which he was regarded 
was felt outside the large and ever growing- 
circle of his immediate friends. 

His popularit}- was not confined to any par- 
ticular class, for ever}- one w-ho came within 
the general influence of his charming manners 
and attractive personality felt that influence 



to a remarkable extent. As a result Mr. 
I'handler became early in his business life a 
prominent figure in the ])ublic e}-e, and in 
po])ular esteem, and this enxiable rejnitation 
he held with increasing force until the day of 
his much lamented death. 

As a financier he was shrewd and al)le. 
While his methods were, as a rule, conserva- 
ti\-e and cautious, he lacked nothing whatever 
of the spirit ui enterprise, or innovation, and, 
as a rule success was the measure of his vari- 
ous' undertakings. 1'o his energy and judg- 
ment were largel\- due the creation (jf a splcn- 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



439 



(lid hanking' business, and so thorouj^lilv and 
so uni\'crsally were liis l)usincss instincts and 
methods recognized and a])i)reciated that when 
foreign governments in the early part of the 
titanic \var between (lermany and l^'rance, with 
her other European allies, floated their loans 
the hrm of which Mr. Chandler was controlling 
>pirit and head was' entrusted \\ith a consider- 
able share of the transaction. It was through 
his firm. also, that the great and Avidespread 
corporation known as the American Stores was 
established. This corporation with its stock 
far up in the millions, was an amalgamation of 
the fi\'e largest chain stores' in the Eastern 
States of America, and the fact that its pro- 
motors, who were all business men of the hrst 
capacity, selected the Chandler firm as the 
hnancial engineer of their gigantic project 
proved beyond the semblance of a dcjubt their 
faith in the aliility and integrity of Mr. Chand- 
ler, as well as their al)Solute confidence in his 
methods and judgment. 

Frederick d\ Chandler was ])orn in the 
Friends' Settlement, near Kennett Square, 
Pennsylvania, Deceml)er 5, 1863, but five years 
later caiue with his parents to Philadelphia, 
where he resided all the years of his active and 
useful life. For ten years he attended the pub- 
lic schools' of Philadelphia and then, in 1878. 
at the age of fifteen, he began what turned out 
to be a strenuous, earnest and successful busi- 
ness career. In that year he entered the brok- 
erage firm of Thomas L. Lawson and Sons, 
where he remained some years. He then en- 
tered the employment of L. II. Taylor and 
Company, wdiere he gained a vast knowledge 
of financial affairs and actpiired a training that 
was of inestimable advantage to him in after 
life. His progress towards the goal of his 
ambition was rapid, but natural and deserved. 
Step \)\ step he was j)romoted by the firm, by 
whom his exceptional worth was fully recog- 
nized, and as largelv apjireciated, and in a com- 
]iarativel}- short time he was admitted to mem- 
bership in the firm. 

In 1S93 Mr. Chandler was admitted to a seat 
in the Philadelphia Stock f-'-xchange and six 



years later, starting business on his own ac- 
count, established the firm of Chandler 
P.rothers and Comi)any, which, under his able 
direction and management, went ahead from 
the start and in time became one of the most 
reinitable and one of the largest financial in- 
stitutions in Philadelphia. .Mr. Chandler was 
also engaged in many business activities apart 
from his bank, lie w as director of the Quaker 
City National P.ank of Philadelphia, of the 
l-'irst Mortgage (Juarantee and Trust Com- 
pany and of the Peoples' National I'irc Insur- 
ance Comi)any. 

He served for many years on the l)oard of 
governors of the Philadelphia Stock h^xchange, 
and was always one of the most active and 
p,rogressive members of the institution, as he 
undoubtedly was one of the most highlv 
esteemed. 

As a result of the admiration in which he 
was held by his fellow members he was elected 
president for several terms and was one of the 
principal movers in the successful project of 
having the hlxchange removed from Third and 
Walnut Streets to its present (piarters at 
I'road and Walnut Streets. He was also a 
memljer of the Stock Exchanges of New York 
and Chicago, of the Cotton h'xchange. New 
York, and of the Chicago lioard of Trade. 

Mr. Chandler was a past master of C'orin- 
thian Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; a 
mend)er of the Union League of Phila(lel])hia, 
and also the Kettle Club, the Athletic Clul), 
the Clover Club, the Philadelphia Yacht Club, 
the Racquet Club, the Rose Tree Hunt, the 
Bachelor and Barge clubs', all of Philadelphia, 
and of the Lamb's Club of New ^'ork. While 
he little cared for society as that word is 
usually employed, he did kne companionship 
of men who held a large part in the world's 
afTairs. He was an ardent member of the 
Clover Clul) when his booming bass voice 
could always be distinguished in the medley 
who felt called iq)on to "heckle" each si)caker. 
as the custom of the organization demands. 
It was Mr. Chandler's fate to die on the day 
following the spring dinner of this organiza- 



440 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



tion, the first festivity of its kind that he had 
missed in many 3'ears. 

Mr. Chandler always took an active interest 
in sports, especially baseball, to which he was 
enthusiastically devoted. He was a frequent 
visitor at the games at both the Philadelphia 
l)arks and he was a "fan" in all that the word 
implies. \\'hen the chance came for Philadel- 
phia to purchase the National League team, 
when Charles P. Taft, brother of former 
President William H. Taft, sold out his inter- 
est, Mr. Chandler was one of the first subscrib- 
ers. It was an open secret, too, that he was 
the heaviest individual stockholder in the club. 

Mr. Chandler always took an active interest 
in the management of the clulx He was con- 
sulted by President Baker in every important 
move that was made. Up to this spring Mr. 
Chandler was a daily attendant at the games 
at the Philadelphia park, his box always being 
filled with his friends. Every spring Mr. 
Chandler invited a party of his intimate friends 
to accompany him to the rendezvous where 
the "Phillies" were training, and they usually 
remained there a fortnight. 

His widow and four children survive him. 
They are Frederick T. Chandler, Jr., now an 
ensign in the Navy ; Burton Chandler, who 
went to Camp ^vleade as a selected man ; Miss 
Eleanor Chandler, and Mrs. Frank H. Galey. 

GENERAL RUSSELL THAYER 

npHE living friends of Russell Thayer are 
legion and include the best and most cul- 
tured men of Philadelphia ; the friends of his 
who are dead w^ere, in their day and genera- 
tion, foremost in their respective lines of hu- 
man efi^ort. and, in many instances', of a nation- 
wide celebrity. 

General Grant, the victor in our Civil War, 
and afterward a President of the United States, 
was one, and of the others whose names were 
familiar in the mouths of Philadelphians as 
household words were: Hon. John Welsh, 
United States Minister to England ; Thomas 
A. Scott and George B. Roberts, each a rail- 
road magnate and each president of the great 



Pennsylvania system ; James McManus, once 
a political giant in Philadelphia, and head of 
the Gas Trust; Hon. William S. Stokely, once 
Mayor of Philadelphia; Hon. Morton Mc- 
Michael, also Mayor of Philadelphia, and 
former proprietor of the North American news- 
paper ; Theodore Cuyler, one of Philadelphia's 





\^^^^^^^^^^B 




\^^^^^^^^^^^H 




^1 




^n 


■1 




^^^H^B!SL* v,'^,»'-^r 





GENERAL RUSSELL THAYER 

most prominent lawyers ; Hon. George H. 
Bowd^:er; Hon. Eli K. Price, a distinguished 
lawyer; David M. Sellers, Gustavus Remak 
and Fred I\I. Molbert. These men, all promi- 
nent and all distinguished, were the friends 
and associates of General Thayer. 

Coming of a name and family long identified 
with Philadelphia, General Russell Thayer was 
born in that city December 24, 1852, his father 
being Hon. M. Russell Thayer and his mother 
Sophia Dallas (VVatmough) Thayer, also of a 
well-known and highly esteemed family. He 
was educated in the private schools of the 



THE STORY OF rillLADELPlllA 



441 



(.)u;iker City and then entfrcd the University 
of Pennsylvania. 

Securing the nominatii)n of United States 
Army Cadet, he next entered the Military 
Academy, at West Point, where his career was 
most distinguished, he being successively ap- 
pointed Color Corporal, h'irst Sergeant and 
h'irst Caj^tain of the Cori)S of Cadets. After 
graduating at West Point as assistant instruc- 
tor of artillery, he was' personally advised by 
(ieneral (irant, who ^\■as then President of the 
United States, to resign from the service, as 
there was no vacancies in the artillery arm in 
existence. This he did somewhat reluctantly 
and then secured a position as assistant engi- 
neer with the Pennsylvania Company, with 
which great corporation he was engaged for 
years', gaining added experience as a civil engi- 
neer. His ability received substantial and em- 
phatic recognition, wdiile still engaged on the 
Pennsylvania Railroad system, by his appoint- 
ment as chief engineer of Fairmount Park, 
Philadelphia, the largest municipal park in the 
world, and now, largely if not mainly, through 
his zeal, energy and initiative, amongst the 
most beautiful. 

Over a score of "golden years ago," wdien 
Mr. Thayer received his appointment, Fair- 
mount Park was in a condition extremely 
crude and, to a large extent, somewhat neg- 
lected. It rei^resented a case of "nature aban- 
doned,'' but after his appointment these adorn- 
ments came and, little by little, the vast pleas- 
ure ground of which Philadelphians are so 
justly proud, assumed all the aspect, as it pos- 
sessed all the environments of "a thing of 
beauty" which, according to the poet "is a joy 
forever." Roads', walks and drives were laid 
out, extensive plantings were resorted to and 
everything which Mr. Thayer's experience or 
his imagination could suggest was done to im- 
prove and to beautify the vast tract of which, 
to repeat, the average Philadelphian is so proud 
and so jealous. 

After twenty-three years' service with the 
Fairmount Park Commission Mr. Thayer re- 
signed to become connected with the United 
Gas Imjjrovement Company. A\'ith that great 



corporaticiu he was identified seventeen years, 
during wdiich time he was president of its 
many subordinate lighting companies, liaving 
invented the vtdatilization process for the re- 
covery of platinum metal from their sands and 
ores, to the develo])ment of which he has since 
applied himself. 

In 1876 Mr. Thayer was a])p<iinted b\- Cov- 
ernor Hartraiift I'.rigadier General of the Sec- 
ond lirigade, Peiuisylvania National Guards. 
In this important function he rendered excel- 
lent aid in tlie organization of the (iuards and 
was appointed inspector of the I'ennsvlvania 
Division, a position he held witli nuicli credit 
for eight years. 

Put the one event of his life which (Jeneral 
Thayer regards as the mcjst important; the one 
that C(jntril)Uted most to his happiness, was his 
conversion t(j the Roman Catholic faith. This 
occurred when he was 35 years old, and on 
that occasion himself, his wife and all the mem- 
bers of his immediate family were received 
into the old faith 1)}- his ])ersonal friend, the 
late Archbishoi) Ryan. This important e\ent 
(ieneral Thayer invariably alludes to and re- 
calls in a spirit of extreme thankfulness, tak- 
ing particular care to emphasize the fact that 
no other event in his life afforded him more 
happiness, or is regarded b}- hiiu as of nutre 
supreme and far-reaching importance. 

General Thayer is a member of the .Ameri- 
can Society of Civil lingineers and was once a 
member of the American Philosophical 
Society. 

He is a member of the Board of Trustees of 
St. A'incent's Home and Maternity Hospital, 
and is also a member of the Board of Catholic 
Cemeteries in association with the Archbishop 
of Philadelphia. 

l"or a number of years he held membership 
in the Rittenhou.se and Cricket clubs of Phila- 
delphia, but resigned. His recreations are big 
game hunting in Canada and the Adirondacks, 
and he is also much dexoted to golf, tennis 
and other out-door sports. 

General Thayer is a Republican in politics, 
l)ut never held ])ublic office, or aspired to it. 



442 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



He was married in Farleigh. near F'hiladel- Mr. Koinl)er^a-r iias l)een a manufacturer of 

phia, in A])ril. 1876, to Mary Homer Dixon, hosier}- for many }'ears. lie has virtually 
and his children are Captain Russell Thayer, "grtjwn up" witli the industry. His general 
jr., of the United States Artillery, now serv- office is in the I'.durse, Room ,xi6. He has ex- 
ing in France; Eugene Dixon Thayer: Captain tensi\e selling offices in Xew York, Raltimore, 
Edmund Thayer, U. S. Artillery; Lieutenant 1 'ittshurg'i, C incin'.rti and Chicago. 
Alexander Dallas Thayer, U. S. Air Service; 
Joseph d'revanion Thayer. < )r(lnance Depart- 
ment. V . S. A. ; William \'incent Thayer, de- 
ceased, and Mary Dixon Thayer. 

It will thus he seen that patriotism runs 
rampant in the Thayer family, and that in the 
great and far-reaching war with German) 
thev. and their honored father, did their ])art 
towards "making the world safe iur democ- 
racy." 

General Thayer's residence address is < )\-er 
lea. Chestnut Hill. Philadelphia, and his office 
address Drexel ISuilding. Philadelphia. 



T 



H A. ROM BERG KR 

HIS cit\- is undoubtedly the great center ol 
the hosier\'-making industry in the Cnitcd 
States. It produces about 25 per cent of all the 
hosiery and knit goods made in this country. 
The output of hosiery in Philadelphia ecpiaP 
that of Great Britain. .\s a city. Philadelphia 
produces more hosiery than any other one city 
in the entire world. 

Nearly 250.000,000 pairs of hose were made 
here last vear. The value of the output is con- 
servatively figured at al)out $25,000,000 yearly. 
Recognition of this fact prompted the National 
Association of Hosiery and Underwear Manu- 
facturers to estaldish its national headcjuarters 
here and to hold its annual sessions and ex- 
hibition in Philadelphia. 

Since this city has in operation the greatest 
hosiery mills in the world, so also its manu- 
facturers of hosiery represent the highest type 
producers. And among these is H. A. Rom- 
l)erger, whose specialty is high-grade hosiery 
"for all ot the family," and who is known in 
virtually every textile center in the world as 
one of the l)est equipped experts in the indus- 
trv. 




H. .\. R( ).M 



i^GKR 



^ir. Ivomberger's mills are extensive and 
more numerous than those of the average 
manufacturer. lie operates three up-to-the- 
minute plants, one each in Newport, Middle- 
town and W^isconisco. I'ennsyhania. In these 
mills are manufactured men's, women's and in- 
fants' hosiery in all the popular lines and of the 
highest grades. The goods are known where 
the best in hosiery is sold and are distributed 
into virtually all i)arts of the United States 
and into man\- foreign countries. 

To methods "different" from those generally 
used in the hosiery business, Mr. Romberger 
attributes much of his unusual success. One 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



443 



c»t these features is an unusually perfect sys- 
tem of organization at his mills and in his g'cn- 
eral and selling ofifices. 

Again, in his mills Mr. Romberger employs 
the highest grade expert workers in their re- 
specti\e lines and uses only the very best to 
bi^' had in the way of raw material. He ne\er 
closes his mills and never operates on "short 
time." The plants are "always going." Hence 
his abilitN' to get the very best class of work- 
ers in his establishments and also his abilitx 
to meet any demands from the trade for manu- 
factured goods of the highest class. 

Mr. Romberger is a great believer in "doing 
things properly." He never permits a i)iece 
of manufactured goods to leave his mills which 
is the least bit defective. He realizes, he s'a}s, 
that the consumer is ultimately the judge of a 
manufacturer's product and he feels that if the 
purchaser is given just what he or she pa^s 
for and expects, there's no reason for any 
"slump" in business. And there ne\er has 
been, in any of the Romberger mills. 

The welfare of his employees plays a promi- 
Tttnt part in the operation of the Romberger 
mills. There is being done at each of the es- 
tablishments everything possible to make the 
toil of his workers' as easy and as pleasant as 
possible. Air. Romberger realizes that good 
working conditions represent greater and bet- 
ter output, and he has gone much further than 
most manufacturers to see to it that the con- 
ditions surrounding the workers in his plants 
are conducive to good work. 

Air. Romberger is active in aifairs of the 
National Association of Hosiery and Under- 
wear Alanufacturers and is conspicuously 
identitied with several important trade organ- 
izations in Philadelphia. 

CHARLES K. MATHER 
/^F that sturd}- and uncompromising Quaker 
stock so intimately associated with the 
birth, developments and ])rogress of Pennsyl- 
Aania. Charles K. Afather was born in Lang- 
horne, Bucks County, I'a., on b'ebruary 18, 
1850. His father, who was extensively known 
and as highlv esteemed in the district, was 



Richard Alather, and his mother, l^sther 
(Coates) Alather. He received his education 
in the ])ublic schools of lMiiladel])hia, to which 
city his ])arents had remox'ed. and started on 
his meritorious and successful bfe career in 
IShM, at the age of eighteen. In that vear he 
entered the American h'ire Insurance Com- 




CHARLES !•:. MATlll-:k 

panv's office in Philadelphia and there con- 
tinued until 1872. when he started business on 
his own account. This he built U])on a solid 
and enduring foundation in a reniarkably short 
time, and today he is one of the foremost and 
one of the most popular and successful insur- 
ance officials in the Quaker City, as well as 
one of the best equipped by absolute knowl- 
edge of all the details of the business. 

Air. Alather is also actively associated with 
other imi)ortant interests. He is president of 
the Trans])ortation Mutual Insurance Com- 
])any of Philadelphia: is a director in the 
world-famous A\'illiam Cramp & Sons' Ship 



444 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



and Engine Building Company, and is also a 
director of the American & Foreign Marine 
Insurance Company of New York. In addi- 
tion he is a director of the Philadelphia Mari- 
time I'^xchange and holds membership in the 
Racquet Club of Philadelphia, the Radnor 
Hunt, the Rose Tree, the Country, the Down- 
town, the Merion and the Bachelor clubs, and 
in the Metropolitan, the India House and the 
Bankers' clubs of New York. Pie is devoted 
to active out-door exercise and the recreation 
which he most enjoys' is that of fox hunting. 
He is intimately and actively identified with 
the famous Radnor Hunt Club, and for four- 
teen years filled with credit the honored and 
exacting position of its chairman. 

Mr. Mather is a Republican in politics, l:)Ut 
has never held public office nor aspired to it. 
He is keenly solicitious of the best interests of 
the city with which he has been so long and 
so worthily identified, and every movement to 
conserve or promote these interests has his 
ready and willing support. Pie was married 
at Twelfth and Walnut Streets, Philadelph.ia, 
on December 3, 1875, to Anne D. Gemmill, and 
his children are Josephine Mather, Victor C. 
Mather, Dorothy Mather and Gilljert ^^lather. 
His residence address is Avonwood Street, 
Haverford, Pa., and his business address 226 
^\'alnut Street, Philadelphia. 

IV/IR. BAKER created a flourishing business 
from a modest capital and an unpreten- 
tious start in life, and is now president of a 
commercial industry second to no other of its 
kind in the United States. 

Mr. Baker is a Philadelphian by birth as l)y 
business associations and environments. He 
was born in the Quaker City on November 16, 
1872, his father being Franklin Baker, an old 
and esteemed resident, and his mother Sarah 
J. Hogg. After receiving the usual primary 
and secondary education in the public schools 
of his native city, he entered Pehigh LTniver- 
sity, from which, after a course marked l:»y dili- 
gence, application and hard study, he grad- 
uated in 1895 bearing the degree of Bachelor 
of Science. 



Selecting his native city as the field of his 
after cfiforts, he established the business of 
which he is now the president and deservedly 
occupies extensive premises at the junction of 
Delaware and Fairmount Avenues, and now 
located at Brooklyn, N. Y., and Newark, N. ]. 




FRANKLIN BAKER, JR. 



He is also president of the \\'est Indies Cocoa- 
nut Estates, Incorporated, and is vice-presi- 
dent of the India Refining Company, both 
prosperous concerns, and is, besides, a director 
of the Colonial Trust Company, with which he 
is closely identified. 

He has uniformly eschewed politics and has 
devoted himself to his business, in which he 
has achieved great success' by the power of 
superior intellect and inherent energy so that 
under his direction the business has grown to 
one of importance and is now a concern of high 
standing-. 



run STORY OF riiiL.inrj.riiiA 



445 



?\Iodest and retiring', he shrinks from no- 
toriety, and his phihintliropic designs are so 
(jnietlv executed that they only heeonie known 
s'ubse([uentl_\' through their comprehensiveness 
and lil)eraHt)'. 

.Mr. Uaker is an independent l\epul)Hcan in 
))ohtics and in religion a Unitarian. He never 
help puhlic office and is affiliated with no po- 
litical organizations, lie is a member of the 
Delta Upsilon Fraternity and his clubs are the 
Union League, Philadeli)hia, the bjigineers, 
the Automol)ile of Germantown, the Philadel- 
phia Cricket and the Huntingdon Valley Hunt. 

He was married to h'lizabeth M. Weaver, 
but has no children. His residence address is 
600 West Hortter Street, Germantown, and his 
business address, corner of Thirteenth and 
Market Streets. 




ROBERT RADFORD 

QIKARD COLLEGE, founded in IMuladel- 

phia by the greatest of .\merican philan- 

tliro])ists, Stephen Girard. has turned out man_\- 



notable men. 'idiese are to be found in man\' 
walks of life and many spheres of endeavor, 
both in I 'hiladelphia, the State of Pennsyl- 
\-auia and elsewhere, and in almost every in- 
stance success has crowned their efforts and 
they stand ccjnspicuously both as fine examples 
of careful training, wholesome environment 
and the lasting influences of everything good. 
In jjoint of fact a Girard College student has 
come to be regarded as exceptionally fortunate, 
so far as his early training and the scope of his 
education are concerned and has also come to 
1h' as invariably res])ected. 

Ro])c'rt Radford, vice-president, treasurer 
and general executive of the Standard Steel 
\\^orks, Philadelphia, is one of these Girard 
College "bo}-s" who have made their mark in 
the world, who ha\e achieved a signal success 
in their battle for a living and who have 
wrung resi)ect from their fellows, for the sim- 
])le reason that their every act has commanded 
i:. ddiis is i)articularly so in Mr. Radford's 
case and today, at the age of thirty-eight, he 
occupies a high position of trust, emolument 
and responsil)ility, has the absolute trust and 
confidence of his business associates; com- 
mands the esteem of his arm_\- of eiuployees 
and is regarded b}- all who know him as an 
upright man, keenly alixe to all his duties and 
responsibilities as a good citizen to whom the 
interests of Philadelphia are dear, and as a per- 
fect gentleman in every sense of the word. 
Such is Mr. Radfcjrd's status in the commu- 
nit}'. How he secured it can be told in a few 
words, for the red letter events in his life have 
been neither exciting nor remarkal)ly excep- 
tional. 

.Mr. Radford was born in Philadelphia April 
12, 1879. and is the son of (ieorge W. and Sue 
( P)oggs ) Radford. At an early age he entered 
(iirard College and after the usual course, in 
which he evinced more than ordinary interest 
and to which he applied himself with more 
than ordinary zeal, he began the work of seek- 
ing a livelihood. His selection was soon made. 
Tlie great and world famous locomotive plant 
of the Baldwin Company ai)pealed to him most 
and here he secured work "at the verv bottom 



446 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



of the ladder,'' as he himseh' ver}- forcibly puts 
it. At that time the late John H. Converse 
was president of the comi)any and seeing in 
the young Girard College student all the quali- 
ties that make for efficiency and ultimate suc- 
cess in life, selected him as his secretary. 

After that selection, which IMr. Converse 
had afterward anii)le reason for congratulating 
himself, Mr. Radford's future A\as practically 
assured. He remained with the Baldwin Com- 
l)any for some years and then, seeing further 
advancement ahead, entered the employment 
uf the Standard Steel W'orks. Here promo- 
tion almost waited upon promotion. In every 
department of the works with which he \vas 
connected Mr. Radford exhibited wonderful 
efficiency and skill, as well as a laudable inter- 
est in the aftairs of his employers, and the re- 
sult is that today he is ])ractically the head of 
the great corporation, and. in its executive 
held, its mainstay and brains. 

Mr. Radford does not confine his activities 
to the great steel works alone. He is presi- 
dent of the Yellow Jack Mines Company and 
chairman of the Southwark Foundry and Ma- 
chine Company and is also a director of a 
])rominent trust company and member of sev- 
eral building and K^an associations. He is also 
president of the (iirard College Alumni, and a 
member of the Chamber ()f Ccnnmerce of the 
L'nited States, the Philadelphia Chamber of 
Commerce, the Union League, Philadelphia, 
the Old Y(jrk Road Country Club, the Art 
Club, the ( )cean City Yacht Clul). the Stanton 
Athletic Club, the Young Men's Christian As- 
sociation and many other social and other or- 
ganizations. He is a Republican in politics 
and in religion a Christian Scientist. 

Mr. Radford was married in I'hiladelphia 
June 19, 1900, to hdla Harriet l<razer, and has 
five daughters, Ruth, hdla, Roberta, Helen and 
Dorothy, and one scjn, Robert. Jr. 

His residence is 136 Nortli Tulpehocken 
Street, (iermantown, Philadelphia, and his 
Inisiness address Morris P'uilding. Philadel- 
l)hia. 




LAIRD HARDCASTLE SIAIOXS 

"H^HERE is nothing like leather," was the 
jdea of the currier in the well known fable 
of the town al)out to be l)esieged. and prob- 
ably Laird Hardcastle Simons, president of 
the well-known Philadelphia firm of ^\'illiam 
Amer. tanners of glazed kid. shares in the be- 
lief. At all e\ents he has been acti\ely asso- 
ciated with the leather industry all his strenu- 
ous life and is now on the toj) rung of the lad- 
der which leads to the common goal of suc- 
cess. 

Mr. Simons was born at Castle I lall, Caro- 
line County. Maryland, on February 25, 1874, 
and is the son of M. Laird Simons and Mar- 
garet M. Simons, nee Naudain. 

Educated at the })ublic schools of Castle 
Hall, he began his career in the field of labor 
at the age of fifteen in the office of George S. 
Harris and Sons, printers and lithographers, 
Philadeljdiia. 1 lere he remained tw(~i years and 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



447 



then, iroiii IS^'l to l'^0,\ wa-- i'iii;ai;c-(l in scll- 
ino- glazcfl kid. lii l^X)o lie was proniotcd to 
the resj)onsil)k' position of secretary ot tlie 
Baum Leather Compan}-. In this ca])acity his 
industry and appHcation were speedily recog- 
nized and within a year he hecanie \ ice-])resi- 
dent of the corporation. 

llis occupancy of this positit)n was hriel, 
<uul in l'H)5 he left to become secretary and 
treasurer of the William ^Vmer Company. 
This oftice he held for about eight years, and 
in 1914. upon the death of Mr. .\nier. was 
elected president of the compan\. the ])osition 
he now holds. 

Mr. .^inions ascribes his remarkable success 
in life to strict ap])licati( m and hard work. 
]"rom 6 o'clock in the morning until 6 o'clock 
in the evening he toiled continuousK- and con- 
scientiously with the result thcat a large meas- 
ure of sticcess' in life was his reward. 

This' devotion to the principle of dut\- he 
still exhibits and in no respect is the office of 
])resident a sinecure, for he has inxfsted it with 
a good deal v\ hard work and added responsi- 
l)ility. 

Mr. Simons is connected with the Morocco 
Manufacturers' National Association, of which 
he has been secretary since 1907, and w ith the 
American Academy of Political and Social 
vScience, and is well known in clubland, the 
societies and fraternities of which he is a mem- 
lier being the Presbyterian Social Union, the 

Club, the Philadelphia F)Oard of Trade. 

the Economic Club of Philadelphia, the Phila- 
delphia Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber 
of Commerce of the United States, the Manu- 
facturers' Club, Philadelphia, and the .Krcjui- 
mink Coimtry Club. 

Mr. Simons was twice married, in Xovem- 
ber, 1904, to Alice Plack Putnam, and in Feb- 
ruary. 1914, to Amelia Dominick .\lexander, 
by whom he has one child, luuetta Andrews 
Simons. 

In religion Mr. Simons is a Presbyterian, 
and in politics Repul)lican. 

His relaxation is "principally work." as he 
puts it, with a little golf on the side. His resi- 



dence addre>> is MM Paring ."street, I'hiladel- 
phia. and his business address 454 Xorth 
Third Street, I Miiladelphia. 




WILLIAM 1'.. S. l-h:KCUS( ).\ 

r\V Scotch-Irish ancestry. William 1'-. S. 
Ferguson, a leading lawyer at the Par ot 
Philadelphia, was born in the Quaker City in 
1885. His father is ])rominently connected 
with the insurance business, and his mother, 
who died June, 1907, was active in church 
work, especially that of the Harper :Memorial 
Church, of Twenty-ninth Street and Suscfue- 
hanna Avenue. Philadelphia. She was also an 
active worker in behalf of the Presbyterian 
Home and of the Ladies' Auxiliary of Mary 
Commandery, Knights' Templar. 

Mr. Ferguson received his early education 
in the public schools of Philadelphia and later 
entered the High School, where his career was 
an exceptionally l)rilliant one. After graduat- 
ing from the High School he entered the law 
office of lohn A. Ward, in 1901. For five years 



448 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



he continued his hiw studies unremittingly and 
in 1906 was admitted to the Bar. He had 
qualified himself for such admission the A'car 
before, but decided to continue another wav 
at study before beginning what has turned out 
to be a highly successful general practice, 
which steadily grows with the growth of Mr. 
Ferguson's reputation as a lawyer of high 
ability, of infinite resource and unblemislu-d 
integrity. 

Mr. Ferguson's first practice was in associa- 
tion with Mr. Ward and continued until the 
death of the latter. He then continued it on 
his own account. 

Mr. Ferguson is a memlier of the Law As- 
sociation of Philadelphia and of the Law 
Academy. 

He also holds membershii) in the Haddon 
Assembly and the -Vrtisans and is an active 
member of St. Albans Lodge, No. 529, Free 
and Accepted Masons. In politics he is a 
stalwart Republican and takes an active inter- 
est in the civic afifairs and in point of fact in 
every i)ubHc or other movement designed for 
the improvement of his native city, or for the 
protection or conservation of her interest. 

He married Miss Lulu B. Good, daughter of 
Daniel Good, chief of the Western Union Tele- 
graph Company, and both he and his wife are 
devoted members of the Presljyterian Church. 

Mr. Ferguson resides at 6107 Columbia Ave- 
nue. Overbrook. His business address is 
Lincoln Ihulding, Philadelphia. 



,\.ssociating himself with a financial career, 
Mr. Moore has had large experience of bank- 
ing, and filled many positions of resi)onsibility 
and trust. He recently resigned as vice-presi- 
dent of the Merchants' Trust Company, of 
Camden, N. j., which organization he helped 
to organize, and is now director of the First 




WILLIAM G. MUURF 



^yiLLlAM (;. AKJORF, well-known banker 
and financier, is one of those products of 
New Jersey who have intimately associated 
their lives and futures with the City of Phila- 
delphia and reflected a large measure of credit 
upon it, as well as upon themselves. He was 
born in Haddonfield, across' the Delaware 
River, January <S, 1S74, and is the son of Henry 
D. and Mary (nee Smith) Moore. He received 
his elementary education in the public schools 
of Fladdonfield, and later attended the Ritten- 
house Academy. Philadelphia, from \vhich he 
graduated with honors, to enter the University 
of Pennsylvania. 



National Bank of Ocean City. N. J., treasurer 
of the Turner-Halsey Comi)any and director 
of ( ieorge N. tlelme Company. l)oth of New 
York. 

While devoting the greater part of his time 
and well recognized abilities to banking and 
finance. Mr. Moore is keenly interested in and 
closely identified with other activities. 

He acted as chairman of the Rural District 
section of the United States War Work Cam- 
paign for the State of New Jersey, a position 
in which his energy, business training and 
general ability and initiative were well dis- 
played. He is also very active in church and 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



449 



Voun;^^ Men's Christian AssDciaticni work and 
in this connection is a member of the State 
Committee of New Jersey. 

He is also chairman of the County Commit- 
tee of the Y. M. C. A. of Camden County and 
an active and prominent member of the First 
lVes])yterian Church of 1 laddonhelch 

lie is Past .Master of 1 laddonlield Ltxlge, 
Xo. 130, of Free and Accepted Masons, and 
also holds membership in the Fladdon Coun- 
try Club, of lladdonfield. in the Union League 
of Philadelphia, and in the Orpheus Clul), also 
of Philadeljjhia, and the Bankers' Clul) oi 
.\merica. 

He is keenly devoted to all out-door sports 
and exercises and his chief recreations are golf, 
tennis and baseljall. 

He is a Rei)ublican in politics l)ut never 
aspired to public office. 

His residence address is 257 King's High- 
way, West Haddonfield. N. J., and his busi- 
ness address 701 Drexel P.uilding. 

He has interests in large timber and lunil)er 
mills on Vancouver Island, P. C, as well as 
mining interests in the Southwest and Mexico. 

lOPIX W. SXOWDEN. vice-president and 
manager of the well-known Philadelphia 
firm of Stead & ]\liller Company, manufactur- 
ers of upholsteries and draperies, is a i)romi- 
nent figure in the business life and commercial 
activities of the Quaker City. 

He was born in Newburgh, Xew York, 
March 29, 1869, and is the son of William and 
I'^lizabeth (Wiggins) Sncnvden. 

He was educated in the public schools of 
Fnglewood. N. J., and began his life career as 
a traveling salesman. In this he remained for 
many }ears, acquiring an extensive knowledge 
of the best business methods and establishing 
a connection that was of the utmost service 
when he later entered the manufacturing busi- 
ness, in which he has been niost successful. 

Besides his connection with Stead & Miller, 
who have an extensive ])lant at Fourth and 
Cambria Streets, Philadeljjhia, he is also vice- 
l)resident of the Star & Crescent Company. 

Mr. Snowden is trustee of the West Side 
Presbyterian Church, at Germantown, and is 
president of the Queen Lane Building and 



Loan Associatimi (if that extensive an( 
tant district of Philadel])hia. 

lie is a member of .Meridian Sun I.i 
(Sj a. .\las(jns. and his clubs are tlic .\ 
turers' and the Cosnio])oIitan. both o 
delphia. 



nui)or- 

Ai^^-, F. 
anufac- 
I Phila- 




J( )ll\ W. SX( )\\DI-:X 

I le IS a l\ei)ul)lican ui politics, but has ne\'er 
had any ambition for public office or emolu- 
ment. He is, and has been, all his active and 
useful life, a strictly Inisiness man to whom 
politics do not a])peal other than it does to the 
ordinary citizen to whom the progress and 
well-being of Philadelphia is a consideratii in of 
])regnant importance. 

In August, lS9vi, he was married in l-]ngle- 
wciod, X. j., to Morence Clitter, of London, 
I'.ngland, and has one daughter, Isabel Clitter 
Snowden. 

His residence address is 3037 Queen Lane, 
corner Fox Street. Philadelphia, and his busi- 
ness address l-"ourth and Cambria Streets, 
Philadelphia. 



450 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




J. ERNEST RICHARDS 



J ERNEST RICHARDS was born in Eliza- 
beth, New Jersey, in 18(S1. Son of Joseph 
T. Richards, chief engineer of maintenance of 
way of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, 
he comes of good Quaker ancestry, one of his 
forel^ears, Joseph Richards, coming to this 
country from Oxford, England, in 1660. He 
landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts, and was 
founder of a family which subsequently be- 
came prominent throughout New England, 
and was closely identified with its' leading 
events in Colonial and pre-Revolution days. 

Later on branches of this family were es- 
tablished in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, 
and Cecil County, Maryland, and of the branch 



which linked its fortunes with the Keystone 
State, Mr. Richards is the direct descendant. 
His mother was also descendant of one of 
Maryland's oldest families, being Martha 
Elizabeth Ernest, a daughter of one of the 
leading iron magnates of that State. 

After attending the public and other schools. 
Mr. Richards entered the University of Penn- 
sylvania, from which he graduated in 1902. 
While at his preliminary school, the Borden- 
town Military Institute, he was actively iden- 
tified with its sports, being captain of the base- 
ball and football teams. It followed, there- 
fore, as a matter of course that he should be- 
come associated with the sports of the uni- 
versity, and he did. 



THE STORY OF PII I LADTLPl I L-l 



451 



In his freshman }car he rowed in the class 
crew that won the intercollegiate races at 
Poughkeepsie, and he was also identitj'vl with 
other victories. He also took parts in the 
Mask and Wig Club's productions. 

He is a member of the Zeta I'si I'^-alernity 
of the University, and president of the grad- 
uate body of the Sphinx Senior .Societ}-. an un- 
usual honor. 

After graduating in 1902, Mr. Richards be- 
gan his career as a financier. He hrst became 
connected with the Ridge Avenue Bank, 
Philadelphia, as cashier. In this position he 
gained his hrst experience of l)anking, Init later 
relinquished it to become assistant tcj J 'resi- 
dent of the West End Trust Company. Upon 
the organization of the Independence Trust 
Company he became its vice-president, and a 
director, and was one of the prime powers in 
the successful effort to have this organization 
and the West End Trust Company elTect a 
consolidation. This was effected in May, 1913, 
and Mr. Richards became vice-president of the 
amalgamated trust companies w^hich now do 
business under the title of the West End Trust 
Company, and which is one of the most promi- 
nent financial institutions in the City of Phila- 
delphia. 

The important position of vice-president of 
such an institution is not the only honor se- 
cured by Mr. Richards, in such a remarkably 
brief period, and at such a comparatively early 
age. He is a director of the American Pipe 
and Construction Company, president and di- 
rector George B. Newton Coal Company, di- 
rector of the New York Interurban Water 
Company, treasurer and director of the Cen- 
tral, West Virginia and Southern Railroad 
Company, director of the Penn Seaboard Steel 
Company, and of several other corporations. 

His clubs are the Union League, the Rac- 
quet, the Markham, the Merion Cricket and 
the Philadelphia Barge. He is also a member 
of the Sons of the American Revolution, So- 
ciety of Colonial Wars, and the New England 
Societv. 




DR. \'INCEXT J. FABIAXI 

iT IS not the lot of every physician to be the 
founder of a hospital. Many circum- 
stances, conditions and environments stand in 
the way of such a project, and therefore the 
greater must be the credit due to the physician 
who, by patience, energy and the confidence 
created by professional skill, surmounts such 
obstacles and makes the institution he has 
planned and created an unqualified success. 

Such a man is Dr. Vincent Joseph Fabiani. 
Born at San Pietro Maida, Italy, in 1864, he 
studied medicine and surgery in the Univers- 
ity of Naples, from which he graduated, in 
both branches, in 1889. He then entered the 
famous Superior Military School in Florence, 
whence he graduated Avith high honors, be- 
coming Surgery "Captain Medico" of the 
Royal Italian Infantry. 

After practicing medicine and surgery in 
Naples, he decided to earn fame and fortune 
in a new land, and, selecting Philadelphia as 



452 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



the scene of his lalKjrs, he passed in 1902 the 
examinations that authorized his practice in 
the States of Pennsylvania. New York and 
New lersey. Two years later Dr. Fabiani 
founded the institution known as the lvd)iani 
ItaHan Hospital, now so well and so favoral)ly 
known. Situated at Tenth and C'hristian 
Streets, it ranks high in the estimation of both 
the medical profession and the public. With 
Dr. Fal>iani as its sole director and head, it 
employs a staff of thoroughly qualified and 
well-known physicians and surgeons, and is 
patronized by nut only the Italian residents of 
the citv, but by others of different nationality. 
It is a strictly chartered institution and is the 
only one of its kind in the United States, ex- 
cepting a similar one in New \ ork. 

Dr. Fabiani's fame and ])c)pularity are none 
p-reater than the i)upularity and distinction of 
his wife, Aladame Adele Fabiani. ( )ne of the 
most distinguished musicians in the United 
States, she is a cultured singer and pianist, and 
this has repeatedly been borne testimony to by 
the large, critical and distinguished audiences 
which she has charmed by her skill and per- 
sonality, as well as l)y the musical editors of 
the press. 

In response to general, earnest and persis- 
tent ai)peal. ^ladame Fabiani has consented to 
receive a limited number of pupils, ddds she 
has done for purely artistic reasons, and from 
the great love of the art in which she is so pro- 
ficient. Her social position amongst the most 
exclusive set is well established, and well 
recognized, so that her work as teacher is a 
labor of hjve rather than the suggestion of 
necessity. 



C.\.MU1-:L FNGLANDER, attomey-at-law, 
was born in New York City on ( )ctol)er 
13, 1875, and is the son of Bernard and Theresa 
Englander. He attended the public schools of 
New York City, Drifton, Pennsylvania, and 
Levin Handy Smith (irammar School, Phila- 
deljjhia, and later entered the Law Department 
Class of 1898 in the L^niversity. where he 
s:raduated with hisfh honors. 



Immediately after graduation, in 1898, he 
was admitted to the Ccjurts of Common FMeas 
of Philadelphia. ( )n September 23. 1899. he 
was admitted to practice l)efore the De])art- 
nient of the Interior, at Washington, and three 
(laws later was admitted to practice before the 
United ."^tates Pension l>ureau. 




SA^lUh:L ENGLANDhZR 

Admission to the Supreme Court of Penn- 
syh'ania followed on July 11, 1900, and on 
."^eptemljcr 21 of th.'it }ear he was admitted to 
the Circuit Court of the United States, third 
district; to the District Court of the United 
States for the eastern district of Pennsylvania, 
and to the United States Circuit Court of Ap- 
peals for the third circuit. ( )n June 25, 1901, 
he was admitted to practice before the United 
States Patent Office, and on October 12, 1905, 
to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Fnglander is solicitor for the Lester 
Building and Loan Association, the Pannonia 
Beneficial Iktilding: and Loan Association of 



THE STORY OF I'll ILADELPIIIA 



45: 



I'hihuk'lphia, and the P'-llwood Ihiildinjj^ Asso- 
ciation. He is a member of the Law Associa- 
tion of I^hiladelphia. the American I'ar Asso- 
ciation and the jewisli TuhHcation Society ot 
America. He is also a member of the execu- 
tive council of the Jewish Community of Phil- 



iif the term, its l)rains. In point of fact Mr. 
i'rizer is the William Mann L"omi)any, so far 
as the enormous' business of the lirm is con- 
cerned, and tlie hi^h rank it has securc(l in the 
commercial world, and the high reputation 
which it enjoys all over the globe is. in more 



adelphia, and a fourth director of the llel)rew than a merely figurative sense, a personal tri 



^. )rphan Ht)me and of the luigleville .Sana- 
torium for Consumptives. 

The societies and fraternities with wliicli 
Mr. Englander is connected are \'aux Lodge. 
No. 393. F. & A. M.; Keystone Chai)ter, No. 
175, R. A. M.; Myman Lodge. Xo. 751. O. P.. 
A.; Brith Sholom Lodge. No. 5. 1. O. W. S. ; 
Progressive Lodge, No. 6. ( ). B. A. ; Lannonia 
Beneficial Association and the Congregation 
( )hev Ledek. Llis also chairman of the lioard 
of Governors of Pannonia Building. 

He was a candidate in 1913 for judge of the 
Municipal Court of Philadelphia on the parti- 
san ticket. He was defeated, but received at 
the primary election 7000 votes more than was 
recorded for any other candidate not backed 
by one of the political parties. 

He was married in 1904 to (lussie Schonfeld. 
l)y whom he has two children, Ellwood Li])- 
man and Lester Joseph. Mr. luiglander's resi- 
dence address is 1630 North Franklin Street. 
Philadelphia, and his business address 412 
Crozer Building, Philadelphia. 

HARRY A. PRIZER 

'TPHI". chief executive of sucli a \ast and im- 
portant commercial estal)lishment as that 
of the William ^lann Company, manufacturers 
of and dealers in Idank books, coi)ying books 
and pajjers and banking and commercial sta- 
tionery, with extensive premises at 529 Mar- 
ket Street. Philadelphia, must of al)solute ne- 
cessity, be a keen and alert business man. witli 
a thorough knowledge of every detail of the 
business, and with all the enterprise, commer- 
cial training and what ma}- be termed business 
intuition necessary to not only create success, 
but to develo]) and maintain it. 

Such a man is Harry .\. Prizer, president of 
the Concern and. in the strictest interpretation 



umjjh for him. and a proud and lasting trii)ute 
to his business acumen, business methods and 
uncpialilied integrity. 




HARin' A. imh/i-:p 

()f sturdy (ierman and l^nglish stock, (ier- 
man on the ])aternal side and English on the 
distaff. Mr. Prizer was born in Philadeli)hia. 
in whicli his Teutonic grandsire many years 
ag(^ on May 5, 1S61. being the son of ICnos L. 
and Letitia H. Prizer. He received his ele- 
mentary education in the public schools and 
later graduated from the Central High School. 
Immediately after graduation he accepted a 
clerical position with the 1 looks Smelting 
Company and later entered the service t>f the 



454 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company. 
Here he remained some time and then entered 
the employment of the Pennsylvania Com- 
pany. In each of these positions he acquired 
a knowledge of the details of railroad business 
and procedure which was of immense advan- 
tage to him in after life. 

From the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's 
employment Mr. Prizer went to that of the 
Mann Company, with wdiich he has since been 
associated, and of which he is now chief. 

Beginning at the bottom of the ladder, like 
many other successful men. he steadily ad- 
vanced from the humble and irresponsible posi- 
tion of clerk to higher positions, involving 
more responsibility, in other departments of 
the firm. In this progress upward he accjuired 
that experience which actual contact with 
work can alone afiford and gained that first- 
hand knowledge of the workings of every de- 
partment, which later qualified him for the 
executive position he now^ holds. In a word 
his business aptitude and business training 
were obtained in the school of experience, 
than which, after all, there is no better and 
few as good. 

The William Mann business of which Mr. 
Prizer is head was established in Philadelphia 
in 1848. Thirty-three years previously its 
founder was born in the Quaker City, where 
he learned the trade of house carpenter, which 
he followed for several years. He then became 
connected with the Government service at 
Washington, D. C, but quit this to resume his 
trade, which he followed up to 1848. In that 
year he returned to Philadelphia to introduce 
a portable binder, of his own invention, for 
filing letters. A wareroom and dwelling com- 
Inned was secured at 74 North Fourth Street, 
and in this unpretentious environment was 
established, on necessarily a modest scale, the 
business which later developed into such vast 
proportions, and w'hich still continues to grow. 

The steady increase of l)usiness, from the 
very start, rendered more commodiovis quar- 
ters and greater facilities an absolute necessit}' 
in several stages of its progress. Mr. Mann 
therefore removed to, successively, 25 South 



Sixth Street, to the Northeast corner of Third 
and Chestnut Streets and to 43 South Fourth 
street, where he remained until 1873, in which 
year he purchased the five-story building at 
529 Market Street, devoting the three upper 
floors to the manufacture of copy books and 
the two lower floors to a retail department and 
executive offices. In 1882 a mill for the manu- 
facture of copying paper was established in 
Lambertville, N. J., and this is now one of the 
largest of its character in the United States. 

Mr. Mann died in 1881 and the business was 
then assumed by his sons, and in April, 1888, 
the William Mann Company was incorporated. 
Meanwhile, the manufacturing end of the 
business advanced so rapidly that even still 
larger cjuarters became necessary, and in 
1893-4 an eight-story factory building was 
erected at the Northeast corner of Fifth and 
Commerce Streets', where every detail of the 
manufacture of copying books, blank books, 
loose-leaf ledgers and binders is in operation, 
as well as printing, lithographing, engraving, 
embossing and die-stamping. This building 
is thoroughly up-to-date and no detail in the 
direction of efficiency is lacking, while the ma- 
terial comfort and convenience of the army of 
employees have been almost rigidly provided 
for. In addition to this building the firm runs 
a branch house at 105 Chambers Street, New 
York, to facilitate the demands of its trade, 
W'hich embraces large shipments all over the 
United States, to overseas possessions of 
Uncle Sam, to England, and in point of fact 
to every quarter of the globe. 

Mr. Prizer, who controls this vast business, 
still finds time to devote attention to the af- 
fairs of the American Union Fire Insurance 
Company, of which he is a director, and to the 
Neutric Chemical Company, of which he is 
president. He is also a member of Union 
League, Philadelphia, of the Pennsylvania 
Society, and of Meridian Sun Lodge, No. 258, 
F. & A. M. In politics he is a staunch Repub- 
lican, while in religion he is a Baptist. In 
1885 he was married to Ida Conly Mann, 
daughter of William Mann, founder of the 
firm. Thev have three children, \Villiam 



THE STORY OF PU ILAPHLPIIIA 



455 



Arann rri/.er. born Sfi)teinhi'r 22, 1886; H. 
Ardiiiorc. Jr., l)orn August 6, 18*'l, and How- 
ard Davis, horn September (), 1893. Air. 
l^-izer's residence is 4218 ]?ine Street, Phila- 
delphia, and his l)usiness address is Fifth and 
C'oninierce Streets, Philadel])hia. 




JOHN GRIBBEL 

"T AM an optimist and I delight in the knowl- 
edge that a new^ note is being heard in our 
public life and in our relations with each other, 
which is stimulating and encouraging." 

These words, spoken by John Gribbel in an 
address to the young men employed in the 
transportation department of the Pennsylvania 
Railroad, indicate, to a large extent, the char- 
acter of the speaker. Mr. Gribbel is an opti- 
mist in the strictest sense of the word. He be- 
lieves in the Leibnitz doctrine that this world 
is the best world possible and in all circum- 
stances and conditions takes the brightest view 
of things as they are. 



There may be little or no relation of this 
philosophy with business, yet it would be quite 
incorrect to say that it has not influenced Mr. 
(iribbel and l)rought to tlic pinnacle of success 
tlie business enterprises with which he is and 
has been associated and identified. 

.Mr. Gribbtd, president of the Union League 
ol Philadelphia, and one of the most prominent, 
popular and esteemed of its citizens, was born 
ill I ludson City, now^ part of Jersey City, N. J., 
March 29, 1859. Both his parents, James Grib- 
bel and Anna West (Simmons) Gribbel, were 
of the good old English stock for centuries 
identified with Cornwall, that county rich in 
historical associations, as in metals, which con- 
tributed the ducal title to the King of Eng- 
land. His father, who had come to the United 
.'States in 1855, was a manufacturer who had 
retired from active business after a life of well 
directed and earnest effort had made that busi- 
ness a success. 

His mother was a daughter of Captain 
Charles Simmons' and a niece of Captain Will- 
iam A\'est, and was also sister of Captain John 
Simmons, of the staff of the Duchy of Corn- 
wall. 

Mr. Gril)l)el, the subject of this sketch, re- 
ceived his early education in the public schools 
of New York and later at the College of the 
City of New York. His school days over, and 
the business instinct strong within him, he 
started his career in life by accepting a posi- 
tion with the Importers' and Treaders' Na- 
tional Bank of New York. This w^as in 1876. 
and the follow^ing year he accepted a more 
responsible position with the Leather Manu- 
facturers' Bank of the same city. In 1883 he 
gave up what promised to be a successful 
banking career to enter the New York office of 
Harris, Griffin & Co., manufacturers' of gas 
meters. Here he remained seven years, and in 
1890 became junior partner in the firm of John 
J. Griffin Company, which had succeeded that 
of Harris & Griffin. Two years later Mr. 
Griffin died, and Mr. Gribbel, having pur- 
chased his interest, became sole proprietor and 
has continued so ever since, continuing the 



456 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



business under the title name of John J. Grif- 
fin Company. 

In 1891 Mr. Gribbel transferred the field of 
his labor to Philadelphia, with the commercial 
and financial life of which he has since been 
prominently identified. 

His keen business instinct, created by herit- 
age and developed l)y experience, his almost 
ceaseless energy and his magnetic personality 
soon placed him in the forefront of the great 
industrial and commercial leaders' of this city 
and won for him widespread and general ad- 
miration arid esteem. His business activities 
are well illustrated by the fact that he be- 
came president of the Fairmount Trust Com- 
pany of Philadelphia, director of the Curtis 
Publishing Company, director of the Girard 
National Bank and of the Real Estate Trust 
Company, the success' of which was due, in a 
large measure, to his individual eft'ort. Pie 
was also president of the Corpus Christi Elec- 
tric Light & Railway Company of Texas, and 
of the Royal b^lectrotype Company of Phila- 
delphia, director of the Canadian Meter Com- 
pany of Hamilton, (3nt., vice-president of the 
P>rooklyn liorough Gas Company, director of 
the United (ias & Electric Company of New 
York and several other large corporations. 

He is also president of the Coatesville Gas 
Company, of Coatesville, Pa., and a director of 
the Mechanics' National Bank, Philadelphia. 

Notwithstanding the demands upon his time 
which these im])ortant interests involved, Mr. 
Gribbel took an active part in the afi^airs of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church and is a trus- 
tee of tile W'esleyan Lniversitw which con- 
ferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts, 
and of the Hackettstown Collegiate Institute, 
at Hackettstown, N. J. 

He is, besides, a member of the American 
Gas Institute and of the Association of Illumi- 
nating [engineers. . . 

Mr. Gribbel's interest in literature and art 
has won him a deser\edly high place in the 
intellectual world. 

Plis collection of American colonial histor- 
ical documents' and autograph letters are al- 
most priceless. While his luiglish and French 



engravings of the seventeen and eighteenth 
centuries, and his rare collection of books from 
the fifteenth to the eighteenth century not 
only represent years of effort but a splendid 
judgment of choice. 

In 1913 he created a furore in the literary 
world by presenting to Scotland the priceless 
Glenriddle manuscripts of Robert Burns, an 
act which received most lavish public com- 
mendation from the Earl of Roseberry and 
other distinguished Scotch and English lit- 
erary men. 

Mr. Gribbel is in politics a staunch Repub- 
lican. He has never largely identified himself 
with i)()litics, although overtures have been 
made to him to enter the political field. In 
1S80 he was married to Elizabeth Bancker 
\\ ood, of New York, a member of a prominent 
Knickerbocker family. 

Their children are W . Griffin Gribbel, John 
I). Gribbel, Idella Louise Gribbel and Eliza- 
beth Gribbel. 

Mr. Gribbel's address is Wyncote. Phila- 
delphia. 

JAMES A. FLAHERTY 

npHE religious organization known as the 
Knights of Columbus is probably the larg- 
est in membership, the most widespread and 
the most influential of t)ie strictly Roman 
Catholic institutions of the United States. 

Alen in every walk of life and in every field 
of endeavor are included in its ranks, each ani- 
mated l)y the nol)le and self-sacrificing spirit 
of good fellowship and good will, each duly 
impressed with the obligations and duty of so 
comforting himself in the several relations of 
life in such a manner as to reflect credit upon 
himself and credit upon the ancient church of 
which he is a member. 

Such an organization, of wdiich so much is 
expected, must necessarily l)e both conserva- 
tive and cautious in the selection of its of- 
ficials, so that goes without saying that its 
su])reme chief must be a man of rare char- 
acter, a man of absolutelv unblemished life 



THE STORY OF I'l I ILADELPHIA 



457 



and a niaii, also, of kceu jiulginent, sound 
cmnnion sense and a high order of constructive 
and executi\'e al)ility. 

Such a man is James A. Flaherty, Sujjreme 
Knight of the great and growings orcU'r. Un- 
der his wise and conservative a(hninistration 
it has grown in numerical strength, and in 
prestige and now stands in the very foremost 
of tiie leading fraternal and henelicial societies 
of America. 

Mr. Flahert}- was horn in riiiladelpliia, Julv 
0. 1S53. Both his parents were Irish, and hoth 
came from the historic County of Cjalway, 
where the ( )'I<'lahertys were once one of the 
leading sets of Connaught, and where the 
Uurkes (Catherine Burke being the maiden 
name of his mother) were also of a ])owerful 
and influential family. 

]\Ir. Flaherty's father, Michael Flaherty, 
came to the United States when a young man 
and settled dow^n in Philadelphia, where he 
married, his wife arriving in the Quaker City 
from Ireland al^out the same time. The pub- 
lic and Catholic parochial schools of Philadel- 
phia afforded James A. Flaherty an excellent 
primary education, and later he entered the 
Northeast Grammar School, from which he 
graduated \\ith honors in the first senior class 
of 1870. 

After his graduation, Mr. Flaherty read law 
in the office of the late Colonel A\'illiam 1>. 
Mann, and subsequently took a law course in 
the University of Pennsylvania, in which in- 
stitutinn he acquired a reputation for earnest, 
diligent and conscientious study. He was ad- 
mitted to the Bar of Philadelphia in 1874 and 
at once started a general practice. 

By close application, absolute probity and a 
more than ordinary regard for the interests of 
his clients, he built this practice up to a re- 
markable degree in the years intervening since 
then, and now stands foremost among the 
leading lawyers' of Philadelphia with a repu- 
tation of which any single one of them should 
feel justly proud. 

W hiie his practice is general in scope and 
character, he has devoted particular care and 
attention to Orphans' Court cases and the set- 



tlement of estates, and in this particular line 
lias long been regarded as an exceptional 
authority. 

Throughout his whole professional career 
he has made absolute probity and integrity the 
incentive and asi)iration of his life work and 
no member of the Phi]a(leli)hia Har is more 
generally esteemed, both by his fellow jjrac- 
titioners and by all those outside of it who 
come into professional or other relations with 
him. 

Mr. Flaherty has also other spheres of ac- 
tivity and of usefulness. He is a director of 
the Equitable Trust Company of Philadeli)hia 
and is vice-president of the American Society 
for V^isiting Catholic Prisoners. He is a mem- 
l)er of the Law}-ers' Club and of tlie Philo- 
patrians' Literary Institute and also holds 
membershii) in the American Catholic His- 
torical Society. 

In politics he is a staunch Democrat, always 
adhering closely to the principles of his party 
and giving it his unqualified support. 

In 1914 he re-married — Mary J. Bradley — 
and four children — three boys and one girl. 

His father died December 27, 1898. and his 
mother on January 28, 1908. Of the family 
of nine children which Michael Flaherty and 
his wife had the survivors are: James A., the 
subject of this sketch; Joseph, wholesale flour 
merchant ; Catharine. T^Iother Superior of the 
Mother of Sorrows School, Philadeli)hia ; Ce- 
celia, wife of John O'Donnell, and Anne. 
]\rother DeChantel of the House of tlie Good 
Shepherd. 

Flis office address' is the Penheld I'uilding. 
Juniper and Chestnut Streets. 



r^liEESM.VN ABI.XH HERRICK, president 
of C.irard College, Philadelphia, the famous 
institution founded by Stephen Girard, is one 
of the most prominent, most experienced and 
most successful educators in the United States, 
Now in his fifty-third year, he has spent the 
greater ])art of a strenuous and usefu.l life in 
teaching school and as a ])ul)lic lectm-er; and 



458 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



his association with the scholastic estal)lish- 
ments of Philadelphia dates back nearly a quar- 
ter of a centiirv. 




CHEESMAN A. HERRICK 

Air. Elerrick was born in Redwood, New 
York, July 21, 1866, and is son of Delos and 
Sophronia ( Curtis) Herrick. After attending 
the high school of Theresa, N. Y., and Ives 
Seminary, Antwerp, N. Y.. until 1885, he 
taught country schools until 1887, when he 
entered Illinois State Normal University, at 
Normal, 111. Here he spent two years laying 
the foundation of his future life work, and then 
taught school in the Prairie State. In 1892 he 
entered the University of Pennsylvania, from 
which he graduated as Bachelor of Philosophy 
in 1894, receiving from the same institution the 
degree of Master uf Philosoplu' five years later. 
In 1894 he was appointed secretary of and lec- 
turer for the American Society for the Exten- 
sion of University Teaching, and occupied this 
responsil)le and exacting position for about a 



year. Erom 1895 to 1898 he was instructor of 
history in the Central High School, Philadel- 
phia, and in the latter year was made director 
of the School of Commerce of that institution, 
a ])osition he filled until 1909. He was then 
apjxjinted ])rincipal of the William Penn Eligh 
School, of Philadelphia, which institution he 
left in 1910 to accept the presidency of Girard 
College. 

Mr. Herrick was also a lecturer on com- 
mercial geography in Harvard University 
Summer School and member of the American 
Historical Association; of the American Eco- 
nomical Association, of which he was presi- 
dent of the Business Edvication Section, and 
of the American Academy of Political and 
Social Science. He was also a member of the 
eighth International Geographical Congress, 
and of the department of jury awards at the 
St. Louis Exposition. He is a life member of 
the Pennsylvania State Educational Commis- 
sion, of which he was president in 1910; is 
editor of the MacMillan series of business text- 
Ixxjks; is author of "The Meaning and Prac- 
tice (jf Commercial Education," and "Reclaim- 
ing a Commonwealth,"' and is a valued and 
exhaustive C(Mitributor to many magazines and 
reviews. 

Mr. Herrick is a Presl:)yterian in religion. 
He was married at West Chester, Pa., June 
29, 1897, to Clara B. James. His address is 
(iirard College, Philadelphia. 

ISAAC HATHAWAY FRANCIS 

PHILADELPHIA engineers have been re- 
sponsible for a considerable part of the 
reputation enjoyed by this country for con- 
struction work that is admitted to excel any- 
thing comparable with it in any other part of 
the world. 

And among the consulting engineers in this 
cit}- who have added to America's top-notch 
rejiutation in this respect is Isaac Hathaway 
Erancis, with offices in the Commonwealth 
Building. He is considered by his i)r<)fessional 
associates to be among the foreiuost con- 
sultants in engineering problems doing busi- 



THE STORY OF T/! I L.lDlilJ'J I LI 



459 



ness any\\hcr(.' in Anu'iica. I lis fclluw asso- 
ciates in the l''ngineers' Club re<i;arcl Mr. Fran- 
cis as the exponent of all that is high-class and 
expert in engineering lines. 

It was a I'hiladelphia engineer who designed 
that great dry dock at League Island. The 
same tirni constructed the Mare Island dock, 
for use of the Pacific scjuadron of the United 
States Navy. W'lien the United States needed 
an efticient coal-handling plant at Guan- 
tananio. Cuba, for use of the Navy Depart- 
ment, a Philadelphia consulting engineer was 
called in to supply the specifications. 

A Philadel])hia engineer will design for con- 
struction at Calcutta, India, the biggest ])(nver 
plant to be built in the ( )rient. The nu)st 
noted bridge in the entire continent of .Vfrica 
was built by a Philadelphia engineer, and all 
of the necessary steel was fabricated in this 
city. The greatest concrete span in the world 
bridges the Wissahickon Creek, near Philadel- 
phia. It was the work of a Philadelphia engi- 
neer. 

America stands at the head of the world in 
the art of engineering construction and Phila- 
delphia tops the country as the home for con- 
sultant engineers whose achievements have 
become notable. 

In Philadelphia Isaac Hathaway Francis is 
among the leaders in his profession. The re- 
sult is obvious. 



IN MEMORIUM 
THOMAS MAY PEIRCE 

PHILADELPHIA has produced many nota- 
ble men, and from time to time within 
her varied history many others of nation-wide 
])rominence became her citizens and were iden- 
tified, to a large extent of public usefulness and 
l)rivate benefaction, with her prosperity and 
her progress. She has given birth to, and has 
adopted as her own, men of pre-eminence in 
every walk of life and in cver_\- field of liuman 
endeavor, yet amongst that vast number there 
are few, if any, whose claim to public useful- 
ness, to private ])hilanthrophy, to earnestness 
of purpose, or to actual achiexement are greater 



than those of Tlionias May Peirce, in whose 
loving memory this brief .and ncccssarilv im- 
jx-rfect sketch is written. 



i 


i*< 


'4B 




^^.^^k.^. -"i 





THOMAS MAY l^EIRCl-: 

In his oration over the l)ody of the murdered 
Caesar, Mark Antony is made l)y Sliakespeare 
to say that "the evils that men do li\'e after 
them; the good is oft interred with their 
bones.'' \\diether this be a truism or a mere 
jdatitude is immaterial, but it is material and 
truthful to say that the good done In' Mr. 
Peirce lives, and will live after him and tliat a 
lasting memorial of that good will remain in 
Philadelphia while our relic of the splendid 
educational institution which he founded en- 
dures, or our memory of his many puldic and 
]:)rivate benefactions remains. A thorough 
Christian gentleman, a benefactor of his kind, 
a successful business man, a true friend and a 
citizen beyond the shadow of re]:)roach. he was, 
in his every relation in life, a most superior 
man — a man in a thousand- and when, on 



460 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



May 1(), 1S90, his death was recorded in the 
news' of the day there were few wdio did not 
keenly reaHse tliat in his passing away to the 
eternal reward of a good, useful and a most 
unselfish life. Philadelphia lost one of the very 
l)est of her citizens and the poor of the city 
one of their most devoted and generous friends. 

Mr. Peirce was born at Chester, Pennsyl- 
vania. December 10, \'t^Z7 , and was of strictly 
English lineage, being directly descended from 
George Perce — as the family name was then 
spelled — who came to America with William 
Penn and received a large tract of land now 
covered by the township of Thornbury. in 
Delaware County and the township of the same 
name in Chester County, both in Pennsylvania. 
This George Perce was married in England, 
January 4. 1679, to Ann Gaynor, and their son, 
Caleb Peirce (wdio changed the spelling of the 
family name) was married in 1724 to Mary 
Walter. Their son, also named Caleb, was the 
father of Thomas Peirce. and Thomas Peirce. 
who was married in 1794 to Margaret Tremble, 
was the grandfather of the subject of this 
sketch, his father being Caleb Peirce. 

Thomas May Peirce was educated in the pul)- 
lic schools of Philadelphia, graduating from 
the Central High . School when but sixteen 
years of age with the Bachelor of Arts Degree 
and receiving the Master of Arts' Degree from 
his Alma Mater five years later. Upon attain- 
ing his majority he taught school in Mont- 
gomery Count\', l\"nnsylvania, and the ability 
displayed brought him the ai)i:)ointment of 
principal of the High School at Xorristown. 
He filled similar positi(jns in several Philadel- 
phia schools and in 1865 he established the 
Peirce School, which from a small Ijeginning 
has. according to the United States' Commis- 
sioner of bxlucatitMi. gr()\\n to 1)e the largest 
private school in the United States, with an 
annual enrollment of upwards of 3000 students. 

The school was established in Sej^temlier, 
1865, as 'T'eirce's Union Business College,'' 
the location 1:)eing at Handel and Hayden H^all, 
Eighth and Spring Garden Streets, Philadel- 
phia. Its faculty, including the principal, con- 
sisted of four teachers, and the regular course 



of instruction comprised Ixjokkeeping, pen- 
manship, commercial law. business correspon- 
dence and forms, and commercial arithmetic, 
and, in addition, lectures on commercial law, 
ethics, commere and trade. 

Owing to the fact that the armies of the 
(Government had just been disbanded and there 
were many soldiers wdio needed special prepar- 
ation in order to secure positions in mercantile 
houses, the first year of the institution was 
remarkably successful, over 550 persons being 
enrolled. In the second year of the institution 
the course of study was increased by the addi- 
tion of declamation and orthography. A spe- 
cial normal course was also organized for the 
preparation of teachers for the public schools, 
and this innovation attracted many students, 
as Doctor Peirce had lieen a successful teacher 
in the public schools of Philadelphia for a num- 
ber of years, and had the reputation of having 
prepared more young men for the high school 
than any other teacher in Philadelphia. 

In 1869 the grt)wth of the college rendered it 
necessary to secure larger quarters, and the 
entire second floor of the Inman Building, at 
the corner of Tenth and Chestnut Streets, was 
taken. The faculty was increased by the addi- 
tion of four instructors, making eight in all, 
and a department of P'nglish was added for the 
benefit of students who were not sufiiciently 
advanced in their studies to take the regular 
course of the school. 

In 1881 the name of the institution was 
changed to Peirce College of Business, and the 
following year it moved its home to the Record 
Building, just completed, on Chestnut Street, 
above Ninth. It occupied the whole of the 
fourth floor as school rooms and one room on 
the secctnd floor as an oftice. The attendance 
during the pre^■ious year had increased to 730 
students, so that this change of location be- 
came al)solutely necessary. At this time the 
faculty was again increased and the course of 
study broadened. 

In 1893 the name of the institution was 
changed to Peirce School, and medals and 
diplomas were awarded the school at the 
National Export Exposition, 1899; at Paris in 



THE STORY OF TH ILADTU'U Li 



MA 



1900 ;it lUitTalo in 1901. and at Lliaiicston After i^raduation he cntcn-d the law (jtYicc of 

in 190^ Sanuud C. Perkins, and there his energy, ahil- 

Doctor Teirce was. early in his career, a ity and application were (|uickly recoj^nized. 
bank examiner and was also regarded as a As a resnlt Mr. I'erkins >ecnred for liini the 
handwriting expert, his knowledge in these i)osition of solicitor for the coniniissi<jners of 
connections bringing him as a witness in many Fairmount I'ark. The duties of this office he 
important cases of a civil and criminal charac- discharged so well that in Vm?> he received the 
ter. He served as president of the Business 
I'jlucators" Association and in recognition of 
the service rendered in the cause of education. 
Dickinson College made him a Doctor of I'hil- 
osophy. He was president of the Philadelphia 
Tract Society, a trustee of the Methodist h:pis- 
copal Hospital, treasurer of the Philadelphia 
Sabbath Association, a trustee of Temple Col- 
lege and a man...ger of the Home Missionary 
Society and the Evangelical Alliance of Amer- 
ica. He was a Democrat in politics and his 
marked oratorical ability led, on many occa- 
sions, to his selection for important campaign 
work in Ohio. Indiana and Maryland. 

Doctor Peirce married in lcS61, Miss luuma 
Louise Bisbing, who died in 1.S70, leaving three 
children. His second marriage was to Miss 
Ruth Strong. The children living at the time 
of Doctor Peirce's death were Mary B. Edna 
May. Ruth. Thomas May and Caleb C. Peirce. 
Doctor Peirce's comparatively brief life was 
filled with good deeds, and his death was de- 
plored by hundreds of individuals and by his 
associations in every charitable and church 
organization with which he was connected. 




JOSEPH S. MACLACCIILIX. Director of 
Supplies of the City of Philadelphia, is of 
that Scotch-Irish race the records of wdiich em- 
l)race some of the most daring and most re- 
sourceful pioneers of civilization of the western 
world. His i)arents. crossing the seas early in 
life, settled down in Philadelphia, and he was 
born in Bridgeton, New Jersey. April 30, 1872. 
He attended the public schools of the city and 
later the Central High School, froiu which he 
graduated with exce])tionally high luMiors. 
Having decided on the law as the held of his 
life effort, he entered the Paw l)e])artment of 
the Uni\-ersity of Pennsylvania, graduating in 
June. 1895. 



j< )S1-:P1I S. -MACLAUCiHLIX 

ap])(jintment as assistant city solicitor, under 
John L. Kinse}-. then city solicitor. Here he 
was afforded ample opportunit}- for the exer- 
cise of very superior talents and a\ailed of it 
to the greatest possible extent. In a C(jm- 
parati\ely short time he ac(|uired a reputation 
f(jr efficienc}- and executive abilit}'. and in 
recognition of these qualities the leaders of 
the Republican ])arty, of which Mr. Mac- 
Laughlin has always been a stalwart and ag- 
gressi\'e member, transferred to him the oner- 
ous and exacting office of assistant director of 
public works of the citv. 



462 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



In 1907 Mr. MacLaughlin was appointed 
assistant director of the Department of Sup- 
plies and later on succeeded to the position 
of director, which he continues to fill with 
every possible credit to himself and every pos- 
sible advantage to the city. The work of the 
great department calls for almost ceaseless 
energy and application and demands the high- 
est order of constructive and executive abil- 
ity. All these things are embodied in Mr. 
MacLaughlin's "make-up" and the natural and 
logical result is that his administration is as 
near perfection as circumstances and condi- 
tions can permit. 

Mr. MacLaughlin has always been alert and 
active in the politics of Philadelphia, in which 
he occupies a foremost place. 

He has served as member of the Republican 
executive committee of the Forty-fourth Ward 
and also as president of the division associa- 
tion. Also counsel for the Republican City 
Campaign Committee preceding election of 
Mayor Smith. 

He is a fluent and ready speaker, and in a 
public debate in Federal Hall, on the question 
of annexation of the Philippines, spoke on the 
affirmative side, which easily secured the ver- 
dict of a very discriminating audience. 

He is also a superior jury lawyer, and at one 
time City Solicitor Kinsey paid him the high 
compliment of saying that nearly 90 per cent 
of the cases won by the city has been so won 
by his great and persuasive eloquence. 

Mr. MacLaughlin was chairman of the Pub- 
lic Employees Division of the War Chest 
Committee, and this division went well "over 
the top." 

There has not been a section of Philadelphia 
that Mr. MacLaughlin has not covered with 
his patriotic addresses prior to and during the 
war. 

He represented the City of Philadelphia at 
the Preparedness Convention held in St. Louis 
in 1916, and also represented the Mayor of 
this city at the Peace Congress in 1916. Mr. 
MacLaughlin was a delegate to the Food Con- 
ventions in New York City and Washington, 
D. C. 



THOMAS SHALLCROSS, JR. 

npHE thrift idea, developed generally through- 
out the country during the war, appealed 
to real estate men in Philadelphia as an at- 
tribute that could be developed along more 
extensive, practical lines. So, under the au- 
spices of the Real Estate Board of Philadel- 
phia there was recently conducted here a "Own 
Your Home" campaign, the object being to 
encourage householders generally to "save 
and buy" the homes in which they lived. 

At the forefront of the movement, which re- 
sulted in thousands of persons who heretofore 
had never owned any property securing a deed 
to their own homes, was Thomas Shallcross, 
Jr., president of the Real Estate Board of Phil- 
adelphia and a conspicuous national figure in 
the real estate world. Mr. Shallcross was un- 
tiring in his efiforts to stimulate the great thrift 
idea. He regarded financial saving as a pa- 
triotic duty of every citizen — particularly every 
householder. He worked hard to make the 
campaign a success and it went through with 
flying colors. 

Mr. Shallcross is one of Philadelphia's most 
prominent real estate representatives. His 
reputation extends to all parts of the country 
since it was largely through his persistent ef- 
forts on behalf of the National Association of 
Real Estate Exchanges that this organization 
has become the biggest asset of its kind in 
commercial America. 

Mr. Shallcross served as vice-president and 
as president of the national organization. He 
was elected its head at the association's meet- 
ing in Pittsburgh in 1904. He was always at 
the forefront of any movement that tended to 
elevate the real estate business, no matter in 
what part of the country its efifect was more 
directly felt. He has always maintained a firm 
grasp on the nation's commercial and business 
life and is conceded to be one of the best 
booked real estate men in the United States. 

Mr. Shallcross was born in Byberry, in the 
northern section of Philadelphia, in 1875. He 
got his education in public and private schools. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



163 



In 1900 he became associated with the firm of 
W. H. Quick and Brothers', Fortieth Street, 
below Market, as manager of the firm's vast 
real estate business. 

Later, when the firm was incorporated, Mr. 
Shallcross became vice-president of the cor- 
poration. During J\Ir. Shallcross' association 
with the corporation its business has grown 
extensively, imtil now it is one of the most 
important in the real estate field in Philadel- 
phia. 

Mr. Shallcross is a member of the Manufac- 
turers' Club, the City Club and the Old York 
Road Country Club. He has taken an active 
part in various city betterment campaigns and 
has always supported any movement that has 
had for its' object the development of a 
"Greater Philadelphia." 

During the war Mr. Shallcross was a con- 
spicuous figure in Philadelphia's Liberty Loan 
campaigns. He was actively behind the Real 
Estate Board's campaign, which broke all rec- 
ords as far as going over its allotments were 
concerned. In each of the loan campaigns the 
Real Estate Board was among the first of 
Philadelphia's' commercial organizations to go 
"over the top." 

GEORGE W. STULL 

U'ROM cashboy to general superintendent of 
the biggest and best known department 
store in the world. The achievement is a 
splendid one. It tells of zeal, or ability, of 
energy, of fidelity and of work recognized, 
appreciated and rewarded. Such a record is 
as unique as it is remarkable and stamps him 
to whose credit it stands' as a man in a thou- 
sand, a man whose life efifort has been a suc- 
cess, and a man of whom any community 
should feel justly and laudably proud. 

Such a magnificent record stands out in 
bold relief in the career of George W. Stull. 
It epitomizes a life of devotion to duty, a life 
of usefulness and achievement, a life along 
the pathway of honor and integrity and a life 
crowned by the inestimable jewel of private 
friendships and a large measure of public es- 



teem. Of the estimatitm in which .Mr. .Stull is 
held a remarkable gathering of his associates 
at the Union League, Philadelphia, on De- 
cember 27, 191S, attested to the fullest extent. 
The (Kcasion was the fiftieth anniversary of 
Mr. Stull's connection with the great Wana- 
maker store, wliich is one of the institutions of 
the Quaker City and one df the Phihidelpliia 
newspapers' describing it wrote : 




GEORGE W. STULL 

•"George W. Stull. general superintendent of 
the Wanamaker store, was tendered a dinner 
at the Union League l)y his associates last 
night in honor of his fifty years of service 
wnth the \\'anamaker organization. 

"Mr. Stull's fidelity and zeal, which char- 
acterized his career of half a century and re- 
sulted in his rise from a cashboy in Oak Hall, 
Mr. AV'anamaker's old establishment at Sixth 
and Market Streets, to his present position, 
were eulogized by the prominent guests. 



464 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



"William L. Nevin, vice-president of the 
\\ anamaker corporation, was toastmaster. 
Addresses were made by Judge John M. Pat- 
terson, speaking for Mr. Wanamaker, wluj was 
unable to attend because of slight indisposi- 
tion, and by Preston P. Lynn, general man- 
ager of the Wanamaker New York store. 

"Mr. Stull's business associates, the senior 
of^cers of the store, presented him with a gold 
watch, and also sent to Mrs. Stull a silver, 
gold-lined vase and flowers, while Judge Pat- 
terson, on 1)ehalf of i\Ir. Wanamaker, i)re- 
sented to Mr. Stull a chest of silver of 222 
pieces." 

j\Ir. Stull was born in Easton, Pennsylvania. 
Xovemljer 3, 1855, and is the son of G. Rose- 
burg and Mary (Lynch) Stull. He was edu- 
cated, for the greater part, in the public 
schools of Philadelphia, and at the early age 
of thirteen Ijegan his successful life career in 
the Wanamaker and Brown store, at Sixth and 
Market Streets'. To elaborate upon, or out- 
line the details of that career would be su- 
perfluous and unnecessary here. Suffice to 
say that from the start to the celel)ration of 
his golden jubilee of connection with the vast 
Wanamaker business and establishment it was 
a most decided and a most signal success. 
Promotion was the oft-repeated reward of in- 
dustry, fidelity and efficiency, and today Mr. 
Stull occupies a position in the great building 
fronting Chestnut and Market Streets, of which 
he should feel, and doul)tless does feel, justifi- 
ably ])roud. Me has the absolute confidence 
of John Wanamaker, the head and brains of 
the mammoth concern, possesses the esteem 
of his associates, is respected by every em- 
ploye in the estal)lishment, and outside of it. 
and has a host of friends in the quiet and un- 
ostentatious en\ironment of his private life. 

Mr. Stull resides at Ridley Park, Delaware 
County, Pennsylvania, of which township he 
is chief burgess, and with the interests of 
which he is closely associated, lie is a di- 
rector of the Ridley Park Bank, a director of 
the Taylor Hospital at Ridley Park, president 
of the school board, and its' director and treas- 
urer for thirty years. His attendance to busi- 



ness is ui)on the clock-work i)rinciple and he 
is invariably on duty before the daily opening 
of the \\'anamaker building. His record for 
promptitude in business is probably not ex- 
ceeded by any man in Philadelphia, with the 
single exception of John Wanamaker, who, 
following the practice of fifty-seven years, is 
almost invariably at his work in advance of 
business hours'. 

Mr. Stull is a member of the Chamber of 
Commerce, Philadelphia, and also of the 
pinion League. He is a prominent ^lason 
and also holds membership in the Elks, the 
Knights Templar and Mystic Shrine. In poli- 
tics he is a Republican and in religion a Pres- 
byterian. He was married in Philadelphia 
April 7, 1880, to Miss Edith S. Chant, and has' 
six children, four boys and two girls. These 
are: (ieorge R. Stull, Philadelphia, eastern 
sales manager of the Glidden Varnish Com- 
pany ; C. Rodman Stull, Kingston, N. Y., man- 
ager of the Kingston Gas and Electric Com- 
])any ; Gideon AL Stull, manager of the Wana- 
maker Garage, Twenty-third and Walnut 
Streets; Clark D. Stull, surgeon. United States 
Navy; Mrs. l-Idith Stull Mitchell, Miss F. 
Miriam Stull, the two latter making their 
home at Ridley Park. 

pJARRY I'CBLICKl^R, the well known and 
much esteemed Philadelphia distiller, is 
essentially a self-made man, and takes laud- 
al)le and legitimate pride in the fact. From 
his early youth he has had to fight the battle 
of life with no special advantages, but energy, 
perse\erance and a superior will-power have 
been his allies, and today his position in the 
l)usines's community of the Quaker City is 
fully assured, and as fully and extensively 
recognized. 

Mr. Publicker was born in Russia, of Jew- 
ish parents, on April 15, 1877. He was taken 
to the United States when cjuite a small boy. 
His parents settling down in Philadelphia, and 
his youth was spent in that city. He received 
a sound and liberal education in the public 
schools and when comparatively young began 
his struggle for fame aud fortune. He makes 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



465 



no ])retense to having attained the first of .Mr. I'uhlickcr is a stalwart Repuljlican in 

those two goals, but can proudly boast of hav- politics but has never held office, or aspired to 



ing attained the second, and by means strictly 
honest, al^solutely ])raise\\()rtliy, and entirely 
worthy of imitation. 







■ '*^ ijy 




HARRY PUBLICKER 

Today, at the comparatively early age of 
forty-one, he is senior member and the direct- 
ing spirit in the well-known firm of Publicker 
and Ward, with extensive i)remises at Water 
Street and Snyder Avenue, Philadelphia. 

He is also director of the ^Manufacturers' 
Casualty Company and of the l^'levatcd and 
Subway Building and Loan Association. At 
the time of the Spanish-American W^ar he 
was a member of Company K, Pennsyhania 
National (iuards. and at the close of that l)rief 
but exciting and historic campaign, was hon- 
orably mustered out of service. 

He is a prominent Mason, being a member 
of Equity Lodge 591, F. and A. AL, and when 
not engaged in business is a keen sportsman, 
being especially interested in gunning. 



office. He was married in Philadelphia March 
27, 1S92. to Rose Weinstein, by whom he has 
one child, a daughter, Helen. 

ilis residence address is 5210 Walton Ave- 
nue. Philadel])hia, and liis business address is 
Water Street and Snyder Avenue, Philadel- 
phia. 

W. W. ROBINSON 

npllb' Cermans laughed at America's entrance 
into the war. They little knew the char- 
acter of the men at the head of American peace 
industries. That we were great in industrial 
achievements they knew ; but as American 
plants were all tuned up to the "piping times 
of peace" and the American mind was" far from 
war, the greater and richer our industries, the 
greater and richer would be the booty America 
would have to deliver up to the Germans — so 
thought Germany. Little guessed she the re- 
sourcefulness of the American captains of in- 
dustry who. overnight as it were, showed a 
battlefront where all had been peace; and 
shaped these strong industrial j)lants into war 
weapons' vastly more powerful. 

In contemplating the career in i)eace and 
war of \Y. \V. Robinson, })resident of John H. 
Mathis Co., and Mathis Yacht Building Co., 
Camden, one is naturally and forcibly brought 
to a vivid realization of the above-mentioned 
facts; a situation which s;i\'ed the American 
people and the peoples of the world from a 
Cierman "world imperialism." 

Born in 1875 and educated in the puldic 
schools of \Vilmington, Delaware. Mr. Rob- 
inson early showed an aptitude for engineering 
and for designing vessels. At Cramps, one of 
the best practical "schools" for ship engineers 
in the world, he worked his way forward until 
he became assistant chief engineer. 

In 1908 he saw an exceptional (;])portunity 
to enter the John H. ]^lathis Co. and bought 
out half the interest of that concern. Two 
years later Mr. Robinson formed the yacht 
l)uilding company. Lender his management 



466 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



both corporations rapidly advanced to a fore- 
most position in the building of yachts and 
houseboats. While these plants are second to 
none in the country in the building of yachts, 
they are commonly regarded as standing first 
in the country on houseboat designing and 
building. 

When America entered the great war, Mr. 
Robinson's enterprise rapidly turned his plant 
to the construction of submarine chasers and 
hydroplanes. The first 1917 submarine chaser 
used in the great war was built by Mr. Rob- 
inson. First in the field, the government's first 
order was "landed" by Mr. Robinson. His 
contribution to the American naval forces in 
the brief period during which we were at war 
was twenty-five chasers and one hundred and 
twenty-five hydroplanes. 

Since the war ended the plant has turned to 
commercial work again, and besides yachts 
and houseboats, is constructing for the Ship- 
ping Board and the United States Navy a 
smaller type of tugboat. 

W. W. Robinson is an active meml)L'r of 
the Art Club. Speaking of the success of his 
firm, Mr. Robinson said: 

"We were the low bidders in construction t)f 
aircraft. We succeed in keeping our figures 
as low as we do by reason of reducing our 
overhead expenses. The secret of this lies in 
keeping everybody working with us tht)r- 
oughly interested in our business. We manage 
this by being ourselves sincereh' interested in 
our workers. 

"As living expenses grew we raised wages, 
never was there a thought of a strike. ( )ur 
600 workers were all satisfied. We recognise 
their union. We keep them with us for years, 
and naturally get better work in consequence. 
We respect them, and as a result stand high in 
their respect. This, I believe, is the chici 
secret of the success we have had." 

JULIUS A. GEBAUER, well-known manu- 
facturer of cloths, with an extensive plant 
in Frankford, Philadelphia, was born October 
9, 1858. He was educated in the public schools 
of Europe and graduated from standard tex- 



tile schools well known on the Continent. He 
came to America in June, 1882, and began his 
lousiness career in Manchester, New Hamp- 
shire, starting in the designing department of 
the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company. 
Here he remained five years, when he accepted 
a position with the Middlesex Company of 
Lowell, ]\Iassachusetts, where he remained 
one year. 




JULIUS A. GEBAUER 

He next came to Philadelphia and for ten 
years occupied the important and responsible 
])osition of designer in the extensive cloth fac- 
tory of Joseph (Ireer, of b^rankford. In 1897 
he started business on his own account in 
Frankford. 

With the zeal, determination and energy 
which he brought to bear in the establishment 
and development of his business it grew and 
expanded from the start, and eighteen years 
afterward — that is to say in 1915 — this ex- 
pansion and growth rendered absolutely neces'- 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



46: 



sary a more extensive and better plant. Ihis 
Mr. Gehauer erected at 4100-4112 Frankford 
Avenue, Frankford, and on this site his pres- 
ent great and still rapidly li^'rowint;' trade is 
conducted. 

Mr. Gebauer furnished a vast (piantit}- of 
cloth to the American Army in the ])resent 
war against Germany, and in every instance 
the order of the War Department was fultilled 
with a promptness that was' officially recog- 
nized. He also supplied 100,000 yards of cloth 
to the Cuban Government, and even the (iov- 
ernment of llayti placed large and most im- 
portant contracts in his hands, all of which 
were filled to the utmost satisfaction of the 
respective governments. 

Mr. Gebauer has been long a member of 
the American Association of Wool and 
Worsted Manufacturers. He is' also a mem- 
ber of the Cloth Manufacturers' Association 
of Philadelphia and of the Pennsylvania 
Manufacturers' Association. 

Mr. Gebauer is a director of the Robert 
Blum Building Association, president of the 
Men's Society of Emanuel Lutheran Church 
and one of the elders of the church, lie is also 
a member of the Father's House Association 
of Frankford High School. 

He was married in 1895 and has a son and 
daughter, the former being manager of 
his factory and business, and the latter his 
bookkeeper. His residence address is 1141 
Foulkrod Street, Frankford, Philadelphia, and 
his business address 4100-4112 Frankford 
Avenue, hVankford, Philadelphia. 

pREDERICK FAIRTHORXE TURNER is 
the efficient and energetic manager in 
Philadeli>hia of the Keasbey and Mattison 
Company, a corporation of chemists' and 
asbestos manufacturers, founded under the 
laws of Pennsylvania in 1892 and with its head 
offices in Ambler, Pa. This position came to 
Mr. Turner by well-deserved promotion in 
June, 1916. 

Mr. Turner was born in Philadelphia Au- 
gust 31, 1860, and is the son of George F. and 
Mary (Smith) Turner. He was educated in 



the public schools of Phila<lel]>hia and Alle- 
gheny City and also attended a course in the 
I'riends' School, at \\'ilmingt(jn, Delaware. 

lie has always been associated with com- 
mercial work and is widely recognized as a 
man of remarkal)le business training and 
enterprise and initiation as well as one of great 
executi\'e al)ilitv. 




fredI':rick f. tcrxi-.k 

He is a Republican in ])olitics. much al)- 
sorbed in the interests of his native city, and 
in religion is' a Presbyterian. 

The Manufacturers' Club of PhilacUdphia 
and the Sons of the American Revolution are 
the only organizations of which he is a mem- 
ber, for social or fraternal societies do not ap- 
])eal to him. He was married in Pittsburgh, 
Pa., January I'l^, 1882, to \^irginia Short, and 
has two children : Irene Turner Lindsay and 
Elhvood Jackson Turner, Esq. 

His home address is 107 Poplar Street, Rid- 
ley Park, Pa., and his business address, 1927 
-Market Street, Philadelphia. 



468 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Private, Eighteenth Regiment ( Duquesne 
Grays), 1876. Promoted to Corporal and Ser- 
geant in Company "A," during the Pittsburgh 
riots, 1877. Having removed to Wilkes-Barre, 
['a., accepted a commission as Second Lieu- 
tenant for Company "B," Ninth Regiment In- 
fantry, National Guard of Pennsylvania, pro- 
moted to First Lieutenant, and was with this 
regiment in this capacity for ten years. 

Upon being transferred to Philadelphia, he 
was elected Captain of Company "L," Twen- 
tieth Infantry, National Guard of Pennsylvania, 
which was an emergency regiment organized 
and equipped l)y Pennsylvania during the 
Spanish-American war, in 1898. 

Upon the return of the National Guard of 
Pennsylvania from the service of the Spanish- 
American war. Company "L," of the Twen- 
tieth Infantry, was transferred as Company 
"B" of the Sixth Regiment of the National 
Guard, in their regular organization, and he 
served as Captain of that company until busi- 
ness demands were of such a character that it 
was impossible to continue in active service of 
the State, and so he very reluctantly resigned. 

At the outbreak of the world war the citi 
zens of Ridley Park, Pa., requested Mr. Tur- 
ner to take command of the Home Defense, 
which he did by organizing a company, which 
is fully uniformed and ec^uipped for home 
defense purposes, and will remain as an or- 
ganization until such time as the State of 
Pennsylvania recognizes its active force is 
able to cope with any serious trouble that 
mav arise. 



THOMAS WHY 

npO V>K the head and controlling spirit of the 
largest and oldest business of its kind in 
Philadelphia is a distinction which few men 
enjoy. 

Of these few is Thomas Why. the subject of 
this sketch, and the business of which he is 
the head and of which he was also to a certain 
extent, the founder, is that of the manufacture 
of fine knit gloves. This business was estab- 
lished as far back as 1880, so that for thirtv- 



eight years it has been a feature and a factor 
in the industrial life of the Quaker City, the 
birthplace and home of so many other indus- 
tries that have contributed to the greatness and 
prosperity of the United States. 




THOMAS WHY 

Mr. Why was l)()rn in the old town of Lei- 
cester, luigland. which was an important mu- 
nicipality even in the days of the Danish 
invasion, of which it bears many traces. He 
was the son of Joseph and ITiza ( Bristow) 
A\'hy. and the date of his birth was December 
22, 1853. Brought to America in his infancy, 
he was educated in the public schools of Ger- 
mantown, in which his father had settled down. 
In 1880 he started business with his father, the 
style and title of the firm being Thomas WHiy 
and Company. This title was continued for 
ten years when, in 1890. Mr. Thomas Why 
withdrcAv from the firm, which was continued 
l\v his other three brothers. 

Then Mr. Why started for himself and con- 
tinued until 1912. He then returned to the old 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHL4 



A()') 



firm under the name of Why Brothers and 
C"(imi)any, the sole proprietors ])eing Harry 
Why and the subject of tliis sketch. This part- 
nership continued until 1917, when Henry 
Why died. Tlie following year the firm was 
incorporated under the present title of Why 
Brothers and Company, Incorporated, and is 
now widely and popularly known as such. 

Under Mr. Why's able and conservative 
management it was successful from the start 
and now enjoys a rei)Utation of which anv 
firm, in any lousiness, should feel justl}' and 
laudably proud. Mr. Why is connected with 
no fraternal or other such organizations, nor 
is he associated with any social clubs. 

His tastes and associations are purel\- and 
entirely business and domestic, and when he is 
not at "hard work," as he puts it, in busines.s 
to which he is keenly and earnestly devoted, 
he spends his time in reading, of which he is 
very fond. Nor have ])olitics any attraction 
for him. As a Republican he records his vote 
at the ballot box, but never identifies himself 
with any faction of his party. He is intenseh- 
interested in the welfare of the city with which 
he has been associated so long, and in which 
he is so well known and so highly esteemed, 
and any and every movement for the well- 
being of Philadelphia has his earnest and 
wholehearted support. 

In religion he is a Presbyterian and is an 
active member of the Board of Trustees of the 
Church of the Redeemer, Penn and' Chew 
Streets, Germantown, Philadelphia. 

Air. AX'hy was married in Germantown May 
10, 1883, to Jennie Bramhall. His children are 
T. Foster, Harriet (Mrs. Malcom E. Trainer), 
Martha, Bessie E., Jennie F. and Stanley B. 
He has also a granddaughter, Jane Eyra 
Trainer. 

His residence address is 315 Church L.me, 
Germantown, I^hiladelphia, and his business 
address 5130 Wakefield Street, Germantown, 
Philadelphia. 

ROBERT B. LEHMAN 

TN THE economic life of a great city the 
wholesale produce dealer plays a large and 



important part. In I Miiladelphia this is espe- 
cially the case, and the number of tirnis that 
deal in products of the farm is amply com- 
mensurate with the needs of the city. 

Of these firms one of the most prcjuiinent is 
that of C^-awford and Lehman, which ior 
thirty-four years has done a successful busi- 
ness at 31 South Water Street. 




ROBERT B. LEHMAN 

Robert Lehman, the sole proprietor now, 
was' born in this city on June 17, 1855, the son 
of George Lehman and his wife, M. Jennie. 
He received a sound and liberal education in 
the public schools of Frankford, and in the 
year 1883, at the age of twenty-eight, he 
started in the butter, egg and poultry business 
as junior partner in the firm of Nichols, Craw- 
ford and Company. After he had been in the 
business sixteen years, Mr. Nichols retired in 
1899, an event which rendered reconstruction 
of the firm necessarv. 



470 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



The title was' then changed to Crawford and 
Lehman, and for six years the partnership con- 
stituting it continued. In the fall of 1905 Mr. 
Crawford died, and shortly afterward Mr. Leh- 
man bought the Crawford interest, becoming 
sole proprietor, but continuing the business 
under the title with which it had long been 
familiar to the public. 

As its sole head Mr. Lehman continued the 
policy of fair dealing with which the firm was 
associated from its inception, and the result is 
that he stands deservedly high in the estima- 
tion of all with wliom he has business or ordi- 
nary relations. 

Mr. Lehman is a director of the rhiladelphia 
Produce Exchange and vice-president of the 
National Poultry, Butter and Egg Association. 
He is also a member of the International Mo- 
tor Club and of the Fortnightly Club. 

His chief relaxation is motoring and in his 
Stutz car he almost daily takes a spin from 
Frankford, where he resides, to his business 
office. 

A Republican in politics, and in religion a 
Protestant Episcopalian, he is much interested 
in both, although he never aspired to political 
office. 

In July. 1885, he married Dora Heard, by 
whom he has three sons: Harold A. Lehman, 
Robert P.. Lehman, jr., and Warren L. Leh- 
man. 

"PDWARD A. SCHMIDT has the distinction 
of being i)rominently itlentified \\ith 
finance and manufacturing in Philadelphia and 
with being a recognized adept and authcjrity in 
each. As president of the well-known North- 
western National Uank his reinitation as a 
financier of the highest attainments is thor- 
oughly and widely established, while as i)resi- 
dent of the equally well and favorably known 
brewing firm of C. Schmidt and Sons is as 
well and as fully known. 

Mr. Schmidt is a native-born citizen of Phil- 
adelphia, with which his extensive and steadily 
growing business is associated. He was born 
in the Quaker City July 6, 1863. His father. 
Christian Schmidt, was a native of Germany 



who, in his youthful days, left the Fatherland 
to seek fortune and fame in the United States. 
His quest was not in vain, for the great brew- 
ery that stands on Edward Street, Philadel- 
phia, is a lasting monument to his industry, 
al)ility, zeal and perseverance. lulward A. 
Schmidt's mother was Anna Margaret (irubler. 
who was also born in Germany, l)Ut, like 
Christian Schmidt, her future husl)and, emi- 
srrated to .\merica in her \()uth. 




EDWARD A. SCHMIDT 

Mr. Sclimidt was educated in public and 
private schools of his native city. He then be- 
gan his business career in his father's brewery, 
associated with the office management of the 
business. This position he held until 1891, 
when he and his two brothers, Henry C. and 
Frederick W'. Schmidt, were admitted into 
partnership of the firm, which afterwards did 
business as that of C. Schmidt and Sons. The 
business' relationship thus created continued 
until the death of the senior member. Chris- 
tian Schmidt, in 1902, when the business was 



THE SroRV 01' I'IIILADRLPHIA 



471 



incorporated uiulcr the name (jf C. Schmidt 
and Sons Brewing Company, with lulward A. 
Schmidt as president and his l)rother, llenr\- 
C. Schmidt, as treasurer. Some fifteen years 
ago the firm purchased the Rol)ert Smith 
Brewery and incorporatetl under the name of 
Kohert Sniitli Ale lirewing Company. ( )f tliis 
corporation Mr. Schmidt was elected president 
and later on became a director of the Poth 
Brewing" Company, of which his father-in- 
law, the late Frederick .\. I'oth, A\as fomider 
and president. 

The annual product oi the jdants contrcdled 
by Mr. Schmidt now reaches vSOO.OOO barrels. 
and wdiile that of the C. vSchmidt firm i)roper is 
almost strict!}' local, that of the Rcjbert Smith 
Brewer}- is known all over the United States. 

Mr. Schmidt's ability as a financier was em- 
phaticall}' recognized when, in januar}-. 1903, 
he was elected to the presidency of the North- 
western National Bank, one of the most promi- 
nent and one of the most flourishing financial 
institutions of Philadelphia. 

For many years Mr. Schmidt has also been 
a director of the Commonwealth Title Insur- 
ance and Trust Company, a position wdiich of 
itself emphasizes the high regard in which his 
financial abilities are held. 

Mr. Schmidt is a prominent and active luem- 
ber of the Union League. Philadelphia, and 
also holds membership in the Manufacturers', 
the Philadelphia Country and the Merion 
Cricket clubs. 

He was married in Philadelphia April 29, 
1886, to luiima B. Poth. and has one child, 
Helen M. Schmidt. 

His residence address is 1830 Rittenhouse 
Square and his l)usiness address is (.iirard and 
Ridge Avenues. 

PYRUS BORGNER, president of the ex- 
tensively known firm of Cyrus IJorgner 
Company, of Philadelphia, is the very embodi- 
ment of the successful business man and of 
the enteri)rizing and progressive manufacturer. 
I'.nergy. business acmnen, high character and 
a superior order of natural al)ility have been 
the essential factors in tlie l)uilding up of his 



l)usiness. and of liis reputation, and while tlu' 
former has reached a high plane of i)rosperity 
the latter is. with Mr. P.orgner at least, the 
more high]\- \ ahicd of the two. 




CYRUS BORCXI'.R 

A good reputation among one's fellow men 
is a thing above price, and a good reputation is 
what Mr. Borgner worked and toiled for a long 
and useful life; what he established in the 
early days of that life and what he now enjoys 
to the fullest possible extent. 

Mr. l>orgncr was born in Lebanon, Penns}d- 
\ania. July 10, 1849, his parents being Con- 
rad H. and Maria (Karmany) B>orgner. He 
received his education in the public schools of 
his native town and later entered the Miftlin 
Iligh School, of Lebanon, from which he grad- 
uated. At the age of twenty-eight he entered 
the business at wdiich he is at present engaged 
and which represents the manufacture of fire- 
l)ricks. tile and cla}- retorts, for heating and 



472 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



melting furnaces. That business his energy, He then entered Lafayette College, from 

ability and good judgment resolved into a re- which he graduated in 1890, bearing off the 



markable success', and the extensive premises 
which it occupies, at Twenty-third Street, 
above Race, in the City of Philadelphia, and 
the widespread and growing trade associated 
with it, stand as a gigantic memorial of his 
enterprise, faultless methods and progressive 
ideas. 

Mr. Borgner's activities extend in other di- 
rections als'o. He is treasurer of the Frank- 
lin Institute, of Philadelphia ; is vice-president 
and treasurer of the Manufacturers' Club, and 
is a director of the Philadelphia P.ourse. 

He is a prominent member of the Masonic 
Order and is associated also with many social 
organizations of the Quaker City. 

A sturdy Republican in politics, he has never 
aspired to public office, but is always keenly 
alert to the interests of the city with which he 
is so closely identified, and of wdiich he is 
proud. 

He was married in Philadelphia September 
26, 1877, to Emma Louise Gell)ach, and has 
three children : Sarah, Marie and George. 

His residence address is 6411 Overbrook 
Avenue, Philadelphia, and his business address 
Twenty-third Street, above Race, Philadel- 
phia. 



M' 



HARRY A. MACKEY 

■R. MACKb2Y was born in Bangor, Penn- 
sylvania, June 26, 1869. His father, 
George W. Mackey, was a well-known cor- 
poration lawyer, with a large and lucrative 
private practice. He was the only lawyer in 
Northampton County in the days when the 
slate industry in that region was in its infancy. 
He bought up rights of way and other proper- 
ties and a great many deeds were executed in 
his office. 

Young Mackey received the elements' of his 
education in his native town. Later he at- 
tended the high school at Scranton, winning 
a prize in mathematics, and was graduated 
from the Keystone Academy, where he re- 
ceived a gold medal for the best examination 
in Latin grammar. 



degree of A.B. On his graduation his father 
wanted him to enter his office, but Mr. Mackey 
had a higher aml)ition than to become a lead- 




HARRY A. MACKEY 

ing lawyer in a third-rate town, so he came to 
Philadelphia and entered the Law School of 
the University, from which he graduated three 
years later with the much-prized degree of 
LL.D. While in college and university he 
was noted as a fine all-around athlete and won 
deserved reputation as a football star, being 
considered one of the best, if not actually the 
best linemen ever turned out by Lafayette, not 
even excepting the mighty Rhinehart. His 
popularity, both at Lafayette and at the Uni- 
versity, was immense, and this was due not 
only to the admiration for a great athlete 
wdiich is an invariable feature of college life, 
but in a greater measure perhaps to the per- 
sonal magnetism of the herculean young stu- 



THE STORY OF I'll [TADIiLI'l 1 1 A 



473 



(lent, who made lifcloiii;' friends of ev'cry one 
who came within the sphere of his influence. 

After graduating from the University of 
Pennsylvania in 1893 Mr. Mackey began the 
practice of the law in the ofifice of the lion. 
William A\'. Porter, one of the most eminent 
lawyers in Philadelphia. J lis ability as a law- 
yer and his personal worth as a man soon at- 
tracted the attention of Judge James (lay Gor- 
don, and when the latter cpiit the bench to re- 
sume his private i)ractice he offered a partner- 
ship to Mr. ^fackey. This was accepted and 
continued until 1902 when Mr. Mackey opened 
practice for himself. His success was assured 
from the first. His clientele was large and his 
practice remunerative. 

He studied each case that came before him 
with the utmost care, and from every stand- 
point, and took it up and prosecuted it to the 
end with every faculty keyed up to the win- 
ning of it, if the winning of it was by any 
means possible. His' client became, for the 
time, his partner, and no effort was lacking on 
his part to do both his client and himself every 
possible justice. From the moment be started 
practice he was a busy man all the time, for 
he had plenty of work and all the inclination to 
do it well. 

In 1908 Mr. Mackey entered Philadelphia 
City Council as representative of the Forty- 
sixth Ward. His record there was a repetition 
of his success at the bar. 

As illustrating the scope of his activities in 
the progress of West Philadelphia, with which 
he was identified politically, it may be pointed 
out that he was chairman of the Improvement 
Committee of the Cedar Avenue Improvement 
Association, chairman of the Municipal Com- 
mittee of West Philadelphia Business Men's 
Association, chairman of the Street Railway 
Committee of W^est Philadelphia Business 
League of Improvement Associations, chair- 
man of the Transportation Committee of Fifty- 
sixth and Market Streets Business Men's 
Association, member of the Sixtieth and Mar- 
ket Streets Business Men's Association and 
member of the Fortieth and Market Streets 
Business Men's Association and of the Had- 
dington Board of Trade. 



I\Ir. ?^lackey's ])r()gress in {xjlitics. as at the 
bar, has been steadily onward and u])ward. He 
has been Director of Health and Charities of 
Philadelphia. Director (jf Public Works, mem- 
ber of the highway, electrical and survey com- 
mittees of City Councils. In each of these he 
made his mark and in each ac(iuired added 
(|ualilTcations and added experience for the 
position of chairman of the Workmen's Com- 
pensation Board of Pennsylvania, to which he 
was appointed in 1916. 

Mr. Mackey is a member of the Phi Kappa 
Psi Fraternity and is also prominently identi- 
fied w^ith the Patriotic Sons of America and 
Moose orders, and with many others, and his 
clubs are the Harrisburg, the Lawyers', the 
West Philadelphia and the Whitemarsh. His 
l)olitical affiliations include membership in the 
West Philadelphia Republican Clul) and a host 
of others. His recreations are golf and auto- 
mobiling. He was married in February, 1900. 
to Ida B. Boner, l)y whom he has one child. 
His residence address is 5019 Pine Street, 
Philadelphia, and his businesss address is 
North American Building. Philadelphia. 

1 hp: la I L 

SENATOR JAMES P. McNICHOL 
Born July 3, 1864 — Died November 14 1917 

QLIVER COLDSMITH lays down the dic- 
tum that "the man who makes two blades 
of grass grow where only one had grown be- 
fore," is a benefactor of his country. This is a 
tribute alike to industry and to the creative 
instincts and impulses which are so highlv de- 
veloped in some men, which lead to results at 
once remarkable in themselves and beneficial 
to the community and which stamp their pos- 
sessor of a benefactor of this kind. Such a 
man was State Senator James P. McNichol, of 
Philadelphia, the study of whose useful, cheer- 
ful and unselfish life forms a salutary and 
interesting object lesson to the young Ameri- 
can whose ambition is success in the battle of 
life, and whose incentives to that success are 
strict integrity, a high and noble conception of 
public duty and the unalterable resolve to al- 
wa3'S do what is right, to place imi:)licit trust 



474 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



in God and in conserving his own legitimate 
interests' and those of his family and friends, 
to regard with scrupulous exactness and con- 
sideration the interests of others. 

No higher, no nobler conception uf public or 
private duty could mould or determine the 
character or shape and guide the aspiration of 
any man, and every one of these, and in many 
tjthers, not so |)ronounced are essential, ]\lr. 
McNichol was a worthy exemplar and a per- 
petual example. 

Honor was his watchword and integritv his' 
motto, and with such inherent qualities as his 
mentor and guide it is scarcely to be wondered 
that — in fact it may be regarded as a natural 
sequence — that he was one of the most suc- 
cessful men, in business and in politics, that 
] Philadelphia e\'er produced, and at the same 
time one of the most universally respected and 
esteemed. 

Senator McNichol was born Jul}' 3, 1864. in 
the old Tenth Ward of Philadelphia, with 
which his after life was so intimately asso- 
ciated. His early education was received in 
the public schools and later he attended the 
Northwest (irammer School, at Fifteenth and 
Race Streets, from which he graduated. Sul)- 
sequentlv he took a special course in one of 
the most noted Commercial Colleges of the 
city and there mastered those business details 
which were so essential in the life work he 
had maped out for himself. 

Both his father and his uncle were con- 
tractors in a modest and limited way. h-ach 
was a remarkable man, but to the forceful and 
earnest character of his uncle was mainly due 
the evolution of the sound and practical idea, 
as well as the early conception of immense 
possibilities ahead, that afterward formed the 
basis and ground work of young McNichol's 
business life, and led to the gigantic propor- 
tions to which that business was afterward ex- 
tended. Even then, at the early age of 18. the 
ambitions of the future contractor-magnate 
had taken shape and semblance and he started 
out on his career towards fame and fortune 
fully determined to achieve both, fully alive to 
the extent of his capacity to meet the task and 



surmount all the obstacles which it involved, 
and fully and absolutely confident of the future. 

With this, the goal of his ambition, he 
entered into partnership with his brother Dan- 
iel, under the firm name of D. J. AIcNichol and 
Company. "Dan and I talked it over," said the 
contractor-king in later years and we thought 
over it for quite a while and then we made the 
plunge. "I bought three horses and carts and 
when I got them I thought I was the biggest 
man in Philadeli)hia." The new firm w^as in- 
tended to compete for such munici])al con- 
tracts as the grading and paving of streets, 
then in a wretched condition, and the con- 
struction of sewers. At that time, -which was 
approximately marked by the change from the 
horse car system of pu!)lic jiassenger traffic to 
that of electric system, the streets of Phila- 
delphia were nearly all paved with cobble- 
stones and j)resented anything but an imposing 
or agreeable appearance. During the years 
1893. 1894, 1895, AlcNichol began to forge 
steadily to the front as a contractor. He bid 
for and was successful in securing many large 
contracts for repaving the streets, and the total 
value of such contracts in the years indicated 
reached the remarkal)ly large figure uf 
$6,000,000. 

As a result of his enduring work in that ()ar- 
ticular branch of his now generally appreciated 
business, the City <jf Philadelphia has pr(ibably 
the best paved streets in the world, and this 
great work contributed to in by far the great- 
est degree by Senator McNichol. 

To give even a partial review here on the 
enormous operations conducted for the mu- 
nicipality by Senator McNichol would be im- 
possible, owing to necessary limitation of 
space, but three of his great masterpieces — the 
three works that have made his name a house- 
hold word in Philadelj^hia may be briefly at- 
tended to. These works are the work of re- 
paving the streets of Philadeljdiia during the 
years 1893, 1894, 1895 (to which allusion has 
already been made), the building of the Phila- 
delphia filtration system, the largest and most 
complete in the world, and the construction of 
the Market Street subway from the City Hall 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



475 



to tlie JJelaware River front. Vo (Icscrihe in 
detail the magnitude and operations of the til- 
tration scheme would be ini])ossil)le within the 
limits of a personal sketch. It marks and eni- 
])hasizes the most advanced position in filtra- 
tion matters taken by any city in the world, 
and is a model from which other cities can 
and actually do, receive inspiration and profit. 
Thtuisands of engineers from all over the 
world have visited and inspected it, and still 
continue to do so, with a view of incorporating 
in any contemplative local systems the great 
and important constructions and other features 
which have made the ])lant at Torresdale un- 
equaled in the world. 

Every detail of this magnificent work was 
examined and passed upon by Senator Mc- 
Nichol personally. His desire and aml)ition 
were to make it a masterpiece and a master- 
piece it is — a masterpiece with which the name 
of James P. McNichol will ever be associated. 

While justly and laudably proud of this 
great work, and the man who created it, Phila- 
delphia is almost equally j)roud of her subway 
system of rapid transit. 

Engineers from all over the United States 
and elsewhere have pronoimced this subway, 
and especially its eastern section, the best ex- 
ample of its kind in the world. This particular 
section was constructed by the McXichol firm 
under extraordinary difficulties. To build 
it without interference to the enormous' sur- 
face traffic of Market Street was a problem 
that few contractors would care to face, yet 
this problem and many others almost quite as 
difficult were both faced and solved by 
McNichol. 

From the beginning of this particular piece 
of work, on June 4, 1906, until it was com- 
])leted and opened for traffic on August 3, 1908, 
the surface of Market Street was at all times 
open, a fact which speaks volumes for the 
genius and resourcefulness' of Senator Mc- 
Nichol. 

Senator McNichol's political career was just 
as successful and just as remarkable as his 
business, and shows to an amazing extent the 
masterful character of the man, as well as his 



magnetic personality and his man\- sterling 
(lualities of head and heart, apart altogether 
from his inherent (pialifications as a natural 
born leader of men. 

It is a record of worries, of \icissitudes and 
of triumphs, but above all, it is a clean record. 
During his strenuous and eventful political 
career there was no man living who dared to 
assert, with truth, that "Jim McNichol (as 
he was aiifectionately known to his associates 
and to the public), ever did a mean or un- 
worthy act, ever sacrificed the interests of a 
friend or sup})orter, to conserve or support his 
own, or ever did anything to which he or an)- 
other man could or would feel ashamed." 

In this respect he was irreproachable, and 
though his political (opponents were many, 
were ever aggressive, and were sometimes not 
over scrupulous in their aggressicjn, no word 
impeaching his absolute political integrit\- 
were ever uttered or coidd be uttered with an\- 
regard for the truth. 

Senator McNichol was only twenty-four 
year old when he entered politics. In those 
days William R. Leeds was a political power 
in the city and was the leader of the Tenth 
Ward, in Avhich both he and McNichol resided. 

The latter identified himself with Leeds 
from the start ; stuck to him manfully in the 
days when he was deserted and opposed l)y 
the very men whom he had called into practical 
politics and befriended, and at his death se- 
cured the leadership of the ward. 

Before he had attained this j)osition, how- 
ever, he had gone through the ordeal of many 
fights, in which he had met defeat. But de- 
feat only stimulated his desire for victory. It 
appealed to the fighting Irish blood in his 
veins, and the more overw^helming his early 
efforts for political recognition the greater and 
keener the zest with which he prepared for the 
next battle. The result was the victory of 
which he was never for an instant doubtful. 

He succeeded Mr. Leeds in the leadership 
of the Tenth Ward, became a member of the 
Republican City Committee and was elected 
Select Councilman of the ward. This was in 
1898, and for four years he held the position. 



476 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



retiring in 1902 to represent his Senatorial dis- 
trict in the State Legislature, a position he 
ably and usefully held up to his death. 

While in City Councils he did more for his 
ward than was ever done before and got more 
friends and supporters appointed to municipal 
ofifice than any other political leader in the 
city. In this way he secured a host of political 
adherents and the charm of his magnetic per- 
sonality, his kindly smile, that earned for him 
the affectionate name of "Sunny Jim," his 
proverbial generosity, and his many other good 
traits gained him friends and admirers 
throughout the entire city. 

Senator ^IcNichol was a born leader of men 
and to his leadership was largely due the 
l)uikling up of a great Republican organization 
in Philadelphia. With him activity in politics 
as in business was a delight — in point of fact a 
.-ecreation. He enjoyed a political fight thor- 
oughly, and the sharper the contest the more 
he enjoyed it, and the victory which almost 
invarial)ly followed. 

In private life he was known as a devoted 
liusband and father, a good friend to all who 
had the privilege of his friendship, a genial 
host, a warm-hearted benefactor of the poor, 
and an exemplary Christian gentleman. He 
was always a liberal dispenser of charity, but 
his dispensations of charity were so unobtru- 
sive that little was known of them and that 
little by the merest accident. 

He spent, for instance, about $80,000 in 
erecting a church, rectory and school buildings 
at Fort Pierce, Florida ; gave a magnificent 
marble altar to St. Francis' de Sales, of Forty- 
seventh Street and Springfield Avenue, Phila- 
delphia ; gave another marble altar to the 
Church of the Holy Spirit, at Atlantic City, 
and gave still another to the Catholic Home, 
at Twenty-ninth Street and Allegheny Avenue, 
Philadelphia. 

In the days of the notable coal strike in 
Philadelphia he had his men and teams haul 
coal from Torresdale to all poor families in the 
Tenth Ward, and a standing order to his lieu- 
tenants in the ward was to see that no needy 



persons within it were without either employ- 
ment or food. 

No man in public life in Philadelphia, and 
few men in public life in the United States, 
was more popular with all classes than he. 
He never made a personal enemy, and the fact 
that hundreds of his most bitter and aggres- 
sive political opponents attended his funeral 
and publicly lamented his loss, was the highest 
and clearest tribute of the esteem with which 
he was universally regarded. 

Another and somewhat remarkable evidence 
of such esteem lies in the fact that both of the 
great political parties in the city imited in 
endorsing his son, William J. McNichol, to 
succeed him in the State Senate. Such spon- 
taneous tribute is seldom paid a public man, 
but when it is it speaks trumpet-tongued for 
his worth and of the estimation in which he 
was held by his fellow citizens of all political 
affiliations. 

William J. McNichol, therefore, succeeds his 
father in the State Legislature and if all the 
indications of the present be correct, there is 
every reason to hope that he will follow faith- 
fully the footsteps of his' distinguished parent 
and become, like him, a good and useful citi- 
zen of his natal City of Philadelphia. 

GUSTAVUS REMAK, JR. 

yX^HEN Gustavus Remak, Jr., president of the 
Insurance Company of the State of Penn- 
sylvania, and one of Philadelphia's best known 
lawyers, was a student at the University of 
Pennsylvania there were few commencement 
programs that failed to record his name as the 
winner of some prize. 

And if one should look over the record of 
Penn's great sportsmen he will find that as a 
football star Mr. Remak was among the big 
leaders at the college. He was for six years 
a member of the football team — a big honor in 
itself, and during his senior year he was its 
captain. 

Mr. Remak took two degrees at Penn. He 
was given his A. B. in 1882, and two years 
later graduated from the Department of Law. 



THE STORY 01- PHILADELPHIA 



477 



As an attorney, he has been considered one of 
the foremost in Phihadclphia. He ])aid par- 
ticular attentitHi in his ])ractice to the settle- 
ment of estates and is' considered one of the 
country's experts in this line. In 1887 he pub- 
lished a "Digest of the Law of Negotiable 
Interests in Pennsylvania," which is still re- 
garded as a valuable treatment of the subject. 
In later years he has given much attention to 
insurance law. 

Mr. Remak was born in Philadeli)hia in 
1861. His father was a noted lawyer, one of 
the original members of the Park Commission, 
and its President at the time of his death in 
1886. The son entered the Protestant Epis- 
copal Academy, where he spent six years as a 
student. At graduation he won the Latin Prize 
at the Academy, and on his matriculation at 
the University of Pennsylvania, the first prize 
for the best Greek prose treatise. 

He was very active in undergraduate work 
at Penn. His class elected him president and 
he was editor-in-chief of the Pennsylvania 
Magazine. He was also Moderator and an 
active member of the Philomathean Society. 

Mr. Remak is a member of the Sharswood 
Law Club, of the L^niversity of Pennsylvania, 
the Rittenhouse and University Clubs, the 
Philadelphia Cricket Club, Sunn^brook Golf 
Club, and the Zeta Psi Fraternity. He is an 
active Re})ublican and has taken ])art in 
various campaigns'. 

In 1896 Mr. Remak married Miss Caroline 
H. Voorhees. They have two daughters, Mar- 
garet O. Remak and Caroline Voorhees Re- 
mak, 2d. 

Mr. Remak still retains his law practice, in 
which he is associated with Adolph h-ichholz. 



JJOWARD M. VAN COURT, president of 
the Miami Gas Company, Miami, Florida, 
and vice-president of the Miami Telephone 
Company, also of that flourishing city of the 
Everglades State, is a Penns'ylvanian by birth, 
and a Philadelphian by association. He was 
born in Fort Washington. ^Montgomery 
County, tlie most picturesque and historic lit- 



tle town in the Keystone State. I lis l)irt!i 
occurred in 1848 and his education was re- 
ceived in the public schools. 

Mr. Van Court has been closely associated 
with many financial enterprises, .\bout fifteen 
years ago he founded the Central Trust and 
Savings Com])any. at I'ourth and l-'ranklin 
Streets, Phila(Ul]>hia, and was for ten years 




HOWARD M. VAN COURT 

its president, lending his able and energetic 
management : the new institution made steady 
if not rapid progress, and when .Mr. \ an Court 
ceased connection with it it had Ijecome one 
of the firmly established and popular financial 
institutions of Philadelphia. .Mr. \an Court 
was also one of the founders of the Fidelity 
Mutual Life Insurance Company of Philadel- 
pliia and contributed in a marked degree to its 
unqualified success. 

Mr. \*an Court is a Republican in i)olitics, 
and in religion an Fpiscopalian. 1 le never held 
public office, nor did he seek it, and is con- 



478 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



nected with no professional or technical asso- 
ciations. 

He is, however, a prominent and active meni- 
l)er of the Masonic (3rder, and also a promi- 
nent and active member of the Manufacturers' 
Club of Philadelphia. 

He was married in Philadelphia in 1870 to 
Sarah E. Richeert, and has a most interesting 
family of five children. His residence address 
is Wyncote, Pa., and his business address. 
Drexel Building, Philadelphia. 




IN MEMORIAM 

R( )f3i':KT 11. F( )1':ri)1':r|':r 



T 



HE Eatin motto which enjoins that no ill 
be said of the dead has no application in 
the case of Robert H. Foerdcrcr, to whom this 
memoriam sketch applies. 

Nothing ill was said of him when alive, for 
nothing ill could truthfully have been said, and 
now his memory is held too sacred to admit of 
criticism, even of the most trivial faults, even 



of which he was singularly and remarkably 
free. In lofty aspirations, in high and noble 
ideals and in all the attributes of a gentleman 
he excelled in a large measure, and wdien, at a 
comparatively early age death claimed him for 
its own the City of Philadelphia, of which he 
was' one of the most prominent, useful and 
esteemed residents, lost and mourned a man 
\\ho had accomplished much and gave promise 
of still greater achievement in the broad and 
fertile field of public usefulness and public 
trust. 

Mr. Foerderer was born in (lermany while 
his parents, then citizens of the United States, 
were on a visit to the land of their birth. His 
father, Edward Foerderer, was a tanner, who 
had left the l*\'itherland some years before to 
seek fame and fortune in a new land and who. 
settling down in Philadelphia, established a 
business in that city. 

Robert Foerderer was educated in the pub- 
lic schools and in a private academy. He de- 
sired an active life, and one in accord with his 
tastes, and bent upon mastering the trade in 
which his father excelled, became a registered 
a]iprentice in the tannery. 

Mere he found ample field and opportunity 
for the exercise of qualities that lead in the 
direction of originality, invention and achieve- 
ment. He showed a wonderful interest in his 
trade, mastered its every detail and before he 
\\as t\\'enty-one laid the foundation for that 
well ordered and methodical life for which, in 
later years, he became remarkable. 

In these early days thrift appealed to him 
as a potent factor in the pathway of life, and 
the narrower and more dif^cult pathway to 
success. He earned the modest stipend of $8 
per week, yet out of this contrived to lay aside 
$4, that at the age of twenty-five he had 
amassed a small capital. With this he decided 
to establish a business' for himself and put into 
practical efTect certain theories in the direction 
of efficiency and improvement which in the 
days of his apprenticeship had suggested them- 
selves and which he only awaited the oppor- 
tunity to put to the test. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



479 



His business built upon the tirni foundation 
of practical knowledge and executive al)ilitv 
supplemented by his earlier habits of economy 
and thrift, was a success from the start. The 
theories which had evolved themselves in the 
(lays of his apprenticeshij) were found to work 
efifectively in practice, and his business ex- 
])anded steadily as the years went by. 

At this j)eriod his attention was called to a 
new method of treating goat skins. This was 
then known as the "chrome-process," and ex- 
])erimenting with it, in its application to the 
manufacture of morocco, many tanners had 
expended, without success, large sums of 
money. To Mr. Foerderer's matured mind the 
l)rocess was impractical in itself, but he saw 
in it the basic principles of one which properly 
evolved, would mean success. Bending all the 
energies of an alert and resourceful mind, 
he succeeded in discovering the "missing link" 
in the "Chrome Process," and in this com- 
pletely revolutionized the morocco leather 
business of the world. 

When he had completed this great and en- 
during work a name for the product suggested 
itself as a commercial necessity. 

Mr. Foederer had read "Caesar's Commen- 
taries" and the thought suggested itself that 
of the great Roman's" historic utterance, "Veni, 
V'idi, Vici," "I came, I saw, I conquered." The 
last word, "\'ici," I conquered," applied to a 
nicety to his invention. And now the term 
"\^ici kid" is known throughout the civilized 
world. 

The process by which "Vici" kid is pro- 
duced was never patented and is, therefore, a 
secret. 

As a direct result of the new process the 
business controlled by Mr. Foerderer increased 
enormously. Time and again his' extensive 
plant at Frankford, Philadelphia, was extended 
to meet every increasing demand. This plant, 
and an extensive plant at Bridesburg, Philadel- 
])hia, where the finest hide glue in the world is 
made, employ over 2000 persons, and 50,000 
goat skins are treated every day. 

The firm has purchasing agents in Japan, 
China. Russia, and throughout Asia, Africa 



and South America, and 1,000,000 goat skins 
are always on transit to the plant at Frankford. 
•Surely this represents a truly wonderful 
achievement and all due to the genius, energy, 
business capacity and enterprise of one man. 

I'^arly in life Mr. Foerderer had become 
prominent in the mercantile world (jf Phila- 
delphia. Strict honor, strict integrity, and a 
high sense of duty, both in its jjublic and pri- 
vate relations, were invariably his standard, 
and his incentive. And in recognition of this 
fact, and as evidence of the esteem in which 
he was generally held, he was nominated Con- 
gressman at Large, after the State had enacted 
a measure providing for the election of two 
such rei)resentatives in the national Legisla- 
ture. 

He was in no sense a politician. He accepted 
his election in the spirit in which it was of- 
fered, and regarded it a public duty, performed 
its essential obligations with fervor and zeal 
and with an eye single only to the best inter- 
ests of those who had so honored him. 

While in Congress he was always accessible 
to even the humblest member of the constitu- 
ency, and no rccpiest for his influence and aid 
in any good or meritorious ol)ject was ever 
rejjelled or ignored. 

\\'hile in Congress Mr. Foerderer was an 
active member of the Committee on Banking 
and Currency. To his interest in Philadel- 
phia affairs is due the organization of the Key- 
stone Telephone Company and his interest in 
labor was always sympathetic, emphatic and 
])ractical. 

To his thousands of em]doyees he was most 
considerate, and once wdien a financial panic 
crippled business and disjointed things gen- 
erally he kept his full force at work in making 
stock for which there was little sale, and that 
practically at a loss. 

In every respect he was a good citizen, a 
good friend, and a good man, and when, on 
July 26, 1903, he passed to his eternal reward 
the City of Philadelphia, of wdiich he was so 
proud, sincerely mourned the loss of one of her 
most lamented sons. 



480 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




E. E. AL-VRSHALL 

TN the forefront of organizers in this coun- 
try of one of the newest and l)ig-gest indus- 
tries — already very great, although only four 
years old — stands Edward E. Marshall, presi- 
dent of the American Manganese Manufactur- 
ing Company, Bullitt Building, Philadelphia. 

'A\'hat bread is to yeast," said Mr. Marshall, 
when asked to make a statement concerning 
the important business which he was one of 
the first to introduce into the United States', 
"such is ferro-manganese to steel; steel simply 
cannot be made without it. Ferro-manganese 
enters into the ]:)roduction of all steel. 

"The ferro-manganese industry is one of the 
newest of our industries, and we were among 
the originators of it in the United States. At 
the beginning of the war the E'uited States 
found itself in a dangerous ])ositi(^n owing to 



the fact that we were entirely dependent upon 
( Germany and England for our ferro-man- 
ganese. 

"England and Germany supplied the whole 
world with this indispensable article, indispen- 
sable, of course, not to the steel industry only, 
but to the structure and very existence of our 
modern civilization. For modern civilization 
runs both figuratively and literally upon steel. 
Civilization is run upon machinery and runs 
by machinery, the most essential parts of 
which, as is well known, need a high-grade 
steel. 

"But resourceful America found a way out 
of the great danger wath which we were 
menaced. England's embargo, as you remem- 
ber, cut ofif all possible supply from Germany. 
England herself had no ferro-manganese to 
spare for us as' she needed every ounce she 
was using herself, owing to the greatly in- 
creased demand of her war plants for steel. 

"At the time the war began we had for many 
years been large producers of pig iron. I saw 
the opportunity of a vast new industry as well 
as of supplying an imperative need of our coun- 
try. So I turned our Ijlast furnaces for pig 
iron towards the production of ferro-mangan- 
ese. As there are only a very few concerns 
manufacturing this article the demand upon us 
has been huge. We have greatly increased our 
facilities to produce several times since we 
entered the business, and now that we have 
won Germany's market away from her we in- 
tend to keep it, and are ready to meet all de- 
mands upon us for ferro-manganese not only 
from the United States but from other coun- 
tries."' 

lulward E. Marshall was born July 3. 1877. 
He was' educated at Penn Charter School, and 
entered Yale University, from which he 
graduated. He is a member of the Delta Phi 
Fraternity, the Union League of Philadelphia, 
the University Club, and the Yale Club, of 
New York. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



481 




(iE(jRGl-: L.,\\]{LLS 

i^XE of the largest and most prominent of 
the wholesale meat merchants of I'hiladel- 
phia is (ienrge L. A\'ells, and it is safe to say 
that he is .also one of the most popular and the 
most highly esteemed. liis lousiness is con- 
ducted on a large and imi)osing site at 402 
North Second Street, and from here he con- 
ducts the largest strictl}' lu^tel and institutional 
supi)l\- trade of the Quaker City. 

1 his enormous and still growing trade is the 
jjroduct Solely of his own energy and organ- 
ization, husiness a])titu(le. enterprise and init'ia- 
ti\'e. knowing instincti\xd\- e\ery detail of 
♦^he packing and general meat industry, he 
started it scjuk- \ears ago on _the strict hasis of 
giving to the pul)lic the best possible \alue for 
the least ]M)Ssible cost. To this inflexible rule 
he lias adhered to resolutel_\- and steadfastly 
and the natural result is that he enjoys to the 
am])lest extent the contideuce of hi> ])atrons. 
just as his re])Utatiou for rectitude and in- 
tegrit}' has earned their respect. 



Mr. Wells was born in riiiladelphia. Jan- 
uary 23, 1.S73, and is the son of Jonath.an and 
•Mary K. (Lindsay) Wells, lie received his 
earl_\- education in the ])ublic schools and later 
attended some business colleges, fr(;m which 
he gradu.ated with honors. .Xbout thirtv \ ears 
ago he entered the meat business, with which 
he has been associated ever since, lie started 
in the em])loyment of Nelson Morris and Com- 
jiany, the Chicago i)ackers', and for about hve 
\ ears represented their interests in P)altimore. 
Me then transferred his services to Swift and 
( om])any. with whom he was associated for 
fifteen years, during live of which he (occupied 
the high and resj)onsil)le position of their gen- 
eral manager in Philadelphia. 

lie then started business f(jr him.self and in 
a shcjrt time made it an uncpialified success. 
He is now president and treasurer of the 
(ieorge L. Wells Company, Incorporated, and 
to repeat, one of the foremost men in his busi- 
ness in Philadelphia. 

Mr. W'ells is a Republican in ])olitics and in 
religion an I'^piscopalian. Me has ne\'er 
aspired to ])ublic office and as a rule confines 
his ])ul)lic activities to the casting of his vote 
and also to the liberal su])])ort of everv move- 
ment calculated and designed to conserve or 
])romote the interests of his native citw 

-Mr. W'ells, as chairman of the committee'. 
has sold Lil)ert}- Ponds in all four Pkuis tti 
every representati\e of the meat industry in 
Philadelphia and \icinit\-. Me has served as 
Chief t)f the Pureau of Meat of the State of 
Pennsyhania under the P'ederal Food Admin- 
istration. 

He is Connected with no S(jcial or other or- 
ganizations but is a prominent member of all 
.Masonic < )r(lers. exce|)t the COnsi.story. W ork. 
and work alone, forms his sole recreaticMi, and 
social functions ha\"e no attractions tor him. 

Me was married in Philadelphia. ( )ctober 4, 
IS^^S. to Sadie l\. lo}-, and has no children. 
Mis residence address is 103 City .\venite. 
Pala, Pa., ruid his l)usiness address 402 North 
Second .^treet. Phila(lel])hia. 



482 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




CHARLES MACLELLAN TOWN 

ABOUT twenty years after the Mayflower 
reached America, the first members of the 
Town family came from Yarmouth, England, 
to the colonies and settled at Salem. Mass. 
That was in 1640. Forty years later the first 
members of the Eagle family came to the new 
Western country, too. and were among the 
original settlers of what is now Delaware 
County, Pennsylvania. 

Charles MacLellan Town, coal operator, is a 
descendant of both these families. For more 
than a century the Towns and the Eagles have 
lived in Philadelphia. Mr. Town's parents 
were Henry W. Town and Gertrude Eagle 
Town. 

Charles MacLellan Town was born in Phila- 
delphia on December 14, 1890. In 1907 he was 
graduated from St. Joseph's High School and 
entered St. Joseph's College with the class of 
1911. He left St. Joseph's to enter the Whar- 
ton Evening School of Accounts and Finance 



of the University of Pennsylvania, from which 
he received a supplemental education. Later 
he won the degree of Bachelor of Science in 
I'xonomics at St. Joseph's College. 

Before he had finished his education, he be- 
gan his business career which has met with 
success at every turn. It was in September, 
1907, that he entered the employ of the Bene- 
ficial Saving Fund Society of Philadelphia as 
a I)ookkeeper. From this modest beginning he 
rose steadily. W'hen he resigned, November 
6. 1916, he was "new accounts teller," a posi- 
tion of responsibility. 

It was to become vice-president and general 
manager of the Bell Union Coal and Mining 
Company that he left the Beneficial Saving 
I^'und Society. The Bell Union Company op- 
erates mines at Curlew, Kentucky, and Mr. 
Town had control of large interests of the con- 
cern. In this position he had an opportunity 
to display his business and executive ability. 
His success with the aflt'airs of the company are 
proven by the broadening of the sphere of his 
activities later, and his first large venture for 
himself. 

This venture came on May 12, 1917, when 
he organized the Town Coal Company, wath 
mines near Kentucky. Of this concern he is 
owner and operator. His success was imme- 
diate, for he obtained contracts with the Gov- 
ernment to furnish bituminous coal to army 
training camps in several southern cities. His 
business has been growing steadily, a tribute 
to his ability as an organizer and promoter. 

In entering the coal business he followed in 
the footsteps of his grandfather, Theodore 
Nevling Town, who opened a large coal yard 
at the southeast corner of Broad and Fitzwater 
Streets in January, 1854. It was the most 
important concern of its kind in Philadelphia 
at that time, and later it became known as the 
Black Diamond coal yard. 

Mr. Town attends to the business of both 
his important interests from the one central 
point, Parkway, at Sixteenth Street. 

Mr. Town was married October 12, 1916, to 
Miss Julia Marie Coyle, of Philadelphia. Mrs. 
Town will be remembered as the daughter of 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



483 



Senator and Mrs. John J. Coyle. Mr. and Mrs. 
Town have one child, a daughter, Mary Coyle 
Town. 

Aside from his coal business Mr. Town also 
is a director of the Pennsylvania Mutual In- 
surance Company and of the American Cath- 
olic Union. In addition he is' a member of the 
faculty of St. Joseph's College, teaching in the 
evenings. 

In the world of coal operators he is known 
as a member of the National Coal Association, 
the West Kentucky Coal (Operators' Associa- 
tion, the West Kentucky Conservation Society, 
Kentucky Mine Camps Association and Ken- 
tucky Mining Institute. Besides he is a mem- 
ber of the American Academy of Political and 
Social Science. 

Mr. Town is secretary and treasurer and a 
director of the St. Ignatius House for Home- 
less and Unemployed Men and is a director of 
the Catholic Alumni Sodality of Philadelphia. 

As deputy grand knight of the Knights of 
Columbus, De Soto Council, No. 315, and 
member of Archbishop Ryan General Assem- 
bly, the Fourth Degree of the Knights of Co- 
lumbus, he is widely known among fraternal 
societies. He also is a member of the Malta 
Boat Club. 

Mr. Town's home address is 911 Wynne- 
wood Road, Overbrook. 

WILLIAM H. S. BATEMAN 

T^HE vast and ever expanding iron and steel 
industry in Philadelphia has no figure asso- 
ciated with it of greater prominence, of larger 
connection, or of greater experience than Will- 
iam H. S. Bateman, the subject of this sketch. 
For over a quarter of a century he has been 
actively and intimately connected with it, and 
in that connection has traveled all over the 
United States, as well as over Canada, Cuba 
and Porto Rico. In all these countries his 
acquaintance with iron and steel manufactur- 
ers, dealers, and the mechanical heads of rail- 
roads is most extensive and his knowledge of 
the States and past and present conditions of 
the steel and iron in each is as necessarily 
elaborate and extensive. A traveler all his ac- 



tive and strenuous life, he has cultivated, in a 
marked degree, the faculty of observation, 
with the result that his general knowledge of 
conditions as they are in the countries named 
is l)ase(l U])()n intimate contact with them. 




WILLIAM H. S. BATEMAN 

In a word he is a man who not only uses' his 
eyesight to see things as they really are, but 
who also brings into play the faculties of acute 
reason and logical deduction. Not contented 
with merely seeing that certain conditions ex- 
ist, his inquiring mind seeks a reason for their 
existence, so that the natural law of cause and 
effect becomes quite apparent and quite con- 
vincing, leaving no element of uncertainty or 
doubt in the conclusions, about men antl 
things, to which he arrives. 

Mr. Bateman's acquaintance with the steel 
and iron business, both at home and within 
the environments of his periodical travels, does 
not represent the whole of his acquirements. 
His is an alumni of the Philadeli)hia College of 



484 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



I 



I'hannacv. a keen and alert business man and 
a thtiroug'h man of the world. IJorn in Xew- 
field. New jersey, on June 3. 186,S, and son of 
the Rev. Thomas Uateman, 1). D.. a popular 
and esteemed member of the Methodist Epis- 
coi)al Church, and his wife (nee Jennie Piatt), 
he was educated in the public schools of Potts- 
ville. Girardville and Tamaqua, Schuylkill, 
Pennsylvania, in which respective towns his 
father held a pastorate and in each of which 
both he and his family were much esteemed. 
In 1883, while but fifteen years of age, he en- 
tered the drug business of Dr. I'homas Levi- 
son, of Mahanoy City, Pa. Mere he remained 
for over four years, gaining valuable experience 
and exhibiting in the discharge of his duties 
an ability, zeal and diligence that were much 
appreciated by his employer. 

In Sei)tember, 1887, he decided to come to 
Philadelphia, where he entered the drug busi- 
ness of Thomas J. Lightcap. Shortly after- 
ward he entered the College of Pharmacy, in 
Philadelphia, as a student, but continued mean- 
while in the drug business. In 1889 he grad- 
uated from the college, bearing off his degree, 
and continued in the drug Inisiness until 1893. 
In that year he decided to (juit it. The iron 
and steel business' appealed to him more, and 
in response to that apjieal he entered the em- 
ployment of the Lukens Iron and Steel Coni- 
pany. of Coates\ille, Pa. 

The same ability, zeal and earnestness that 
had marked his previous life were exhil)ited in 
even a more ])ositive degree in his latter under- 
taking, and as a natural result ])romotion fol- 
lowed, lie was ai)i)ointed to the onerous and 
responsible position t)f traveling sales agent 
and in this capacity served with the company 
until IW/, when he severed his connection 
with it. In 1908 he became connected with the 
Parksburg Iron Company and the Champion 
Rivet Company, as a sales agent, and con- 
tinued until the present time, when his position 
is that of district sales agent. 

P.esides holding these positions, Mr. I'.ate- 
man is sole proi)rietor and head of the firm ol 
W. 11. S. P.ateman and Company, and is di- 
rector of the Kockl)ridge Manganese and Iron 



L'ompanv. lie is a memljer of the American 
i '.oiler Manufacturers' Association and the 
Southern and .Southwestern Railway Club, at 
Atlanta. ( la. 

lie is director of the new Logan Building 
and Loan Association and is also a member of 
the Pittsburgh Railway Club, the Philadelphia 
Chamber of Commerce, and the Library Com- 
mittee of Logan Improvement League, of 
which he is chairman. He is a past master of 
Mount Lloreb Lodge, Xo. 528, Free and Ac- 
cepted Masons; of Jerusalem Chapter, R. A. 
Masons; of Kadosh Commandery, No. 29, 
Knights Temjdar ; of Philadelphia Consistory, 
S. P. R. C, and of Lulu Temple, A. A. ( ). N. 
M. S. P>esides being connected with these or- 
ganizations he is a member of the ^^lanufac- 
turers' Club of Philadelphia, the lingineers' 
Clul), of < )ld York Road Ccnmtry Club, and the 
Machinery Club of New York. 

Mr. Bateman is a Republican in politics, but 
has ne\-er aspired to public office, or emolu- 
ment. He served two years in the First Regi- 
ment, National (iuards of Pennsylvania, as act- 
ing hosi)ital steward. He also helped to or- 
ganize and was lieutenant and executive officer 
of Admiral Dewey's Chinese-American Naval 
Reserves in 1898. At present he is first lieu- 
tenant of "C" company. Home Defense Re- 
serves of Logan, Philadelphia. 

Mr. P.ateman was married in Philadeli)hia in 
1897 to < )llie Logan ITmis, and has two sons: 
T. Houston and Stanley Logan. His residence 
is 513r) North Broad Street. Philadelphia, and 
his office. Commercial Trust I'.uilding. Phila- 
delphia. 

WILLIAM B. MARGl^.RUM 

i^ROM the stand])oint of the consumer, the 
Reading Terminal ?^Iarket has for years 
boasted of the reputation of being among the 
highest class retail establishments anywhere 
in Philadelphia. 

Whenever ^Irs. Philadelphia Housewife 
wants the l)est the market affords, she goes 
di recti v to the great market that covers almost 
an entire city block directly under the big 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



485 



Reading- Kailway Statitui al Twrlftli ami Mar- 
ket Streets. 

She knows, throns^h lun^;- cxperit-nce, thai 
many of the l)est known and most conserva- 
tivel}' rehable dealers' conchict "stalls" in the 
Terminal Market and that w hatc\ er they have 
to offer to the public in the way of edibles can 
I)e relied upon strictl\- to be among the best 
to be had anywhere. 

Among the many dealers of un(|uestioned 
reputation who conduct "stalls" in the big mar- 
ket is William P>. Margerum. lie's known to 
])atrons of the market as the "butter and egg- 
man." His "stall" is along the Twelfth Street 
side of the market. It is one of the most at- 
tractixe in the big establishment and a visit to 
the Margerum place of business is virtually 
an inxitation to buy, since one gets a "hunger" 
for Margerum butter and Margerum eggs the 
moment he or she wanders anywhere near the 
stand. 

Mr. Margerum is a great beliexer in cleanli- 
ness, lie's persistent in his l)elief that it is 
"next to Godliness," speciall}- when it comes to 
a matter of edibles. And his place of business 
is always immaculately clean and inxiting and 
stocked with the highest grade goods tlfftt the 
market affords. 

From another standpoint, the Margerum 
place of business is exceptional. Mr. Mar- 
gerum believes in the policy of "live and let 
live." lie was among the hrst Inisiness men 
in Philadelphia to credit his emjdoyes with a 
share of the firm's i)rofits. His workers ha\e 
for vears shared financially in the success of 
the business. They are made \ irtual p;i'.'tners 
with Mr. Margerum. 

/^ARL .\UGUST PENJAMIX C.RrBNAU. 
prominent wool dealer and imi)orter, of 
Philadelphia, is one of the sturdy German race 
which is so closely identified with the early 
history and material j)rogress of Pennsylvania. 
He w as born on January 8, 1847, in Danzig, 
(jermany, where his father. Dr. hVederick Dan- 
iel (irubnau, was rector of the Girls' High 
School, and where his mother was Helene 
Pannenberg before her marriage. 



I'.ducatrd in ihr ])ul)lic schools of l)an/.ig, 
.Mr. ( irubnau came to the I'nited States in bS73 
and soon after idcntitied hinisrlf with tlu- wool 
trade of Philadelphia. In this he i)rospered in 
a marked degri'c. and the linn of Carl (Irubnau 
and Son, of which he is the senior partner and 
head, and which has an i'.\tensi\-e wool comb- 




CARL A. P.. (.KUBX.VU 

ing and scouring plant at Second Street and 
I'.rie Avenue, Philadelphia, is one of the best 
known and most reputable in the wool trade of 
the L'nited States. 

This firm is largely engaged in the importa- 
tion of w(K)l and has branches in New ^ ork 
and Boston, with direct communication all 
over the world. 

In 1902 Mr. Grubnau founded the North- 
eastern Warehouse Company, with stores at 
Sedgley Street and Erie Avenue, Philadelphia, 
and having tracks on both the Pennsylvania 
and Reading railroads. 

Of this company he is president and the 
guiding spirit. Mr. Grubnau is a charter mem- 



486 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



ber of the Philadelphia Bourse, and is also a 
member of the Board of Trade and Chamber 
of Commerce of Philadelphia, and of the 
Chamber of Commerce of the United States 
and the Philadelphia Wool Trade Association. 

He is trustee of the Lankenau Hospital of 
Philadelphia, and is also a member of the 
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the Ger- 
man Society of Pennsylvania, and the Zoo- 
logical Society of Philadelphia. 

His clubs are the Union League, the Phila- 
delphia Downtown and the Economic, all of 
Philadelphia. In politics he is a Republican 
and in religion a Lutheran. 

Mr. Grubnau was married in 1880 to Vic- 
torina Malpass. He has four sons, of whom 
Henry Conrad and Frederick William are en- 
gaged with him in business, while Victor Carl 
is a metallurgist and a member of the firm of 
Grubnau, Bryant and Grubnau, Cerrillos, New 
Mexico, manufacturers of oxide of zinc, and of 
wdiich Mr. Carl Grubnau is senior partner. The 
youngest son, George Malpass, is a chemist in 
the laboratory of the same firm. 

Mr. Grubnau's home address is Wyncote, 
Pa., and his business address 114 Arch street, 
Philadelphia. 



WILLIAM E. COOPER 

"J^VERYBODY likes and respects self-made 
men." So wrote the genial author of 
"The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table," and 
the words are literally and absolutely true. 
Everybody respects a self-made man, for the 
simple reason that the qualities with which he 
carved fame, or fortune, from well-directed 
efifort are invariably such as command respect. 
This is especially so in the case of the man who 
admits that he is self-made and who takes a 
laudable and legitimate pride in the fact. Such 
a man is to be honored and envied, for such 
a man has proved that he possesses all the 
attributes that demand success and with suc- 
cess public recognition and public apprecia- 
tion. 

William E. Cooper, the well-known and de- 
servedly popular barrel manufacturer of Phila- 



delphia, is foremost in the ranks of those men 
who are entirely self-made and are proud of 
so being. 

Starting his business life with — as he him- 
self puts it — only the clothes in which he stood, 
he is today one of the wealthy industrial 
princes of the Quaker City and one of the most 
widely esteemed of his class. 




Wn.LIAM E. COOPER 

Energy, ability and enterprise, with absolute 
confidence in himself, were the factors that 
brought such a high measure of success to his 
strenuous life work, and today these qualities 
are just as keen as they were in the olden time 
when achievement was still undeveloped or 
developing by degrees, and prosperity was but 
a dream. 

Mr. Cooper was born in Philadelphia, No- 
vember 20, 1862, and is the son of William H. 
and Frances (Bromley) Cooper. He received 
his education in the public schools of his na- 
tive city and his course in each was marked by 
remarkable diligence and application. His 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



48i 



start in the business career in which he was 
afterward so signally successful was made un- 
der peculiar and unusual circumstances. A 
quarrel with his father led to his ejectment 
from the parental home and to the necessity of 
taking care of himself. His age was then 
eighteen and his sole assets "the clothes in 
which he stood." But even then he was as 
resourceful in his methods as he was deter- 
mined to go ahead and give practical evidence 
to his father and friends of the sterling stufif 
of whicii he was made. 

He did not act the Prodigal Son and plead 
for forgiveness and rehabilitation in the good 
graces of his parent. He simply went to a few 
friends ; represented to them his hopes and 
ambitions and expressed the deep and ever- 
abiding conviction that if given a fair chance 
he would willingly and earnestly begin the bat- 
tle of life, with every determination to win 
that battle and carve for himself a reputation 
and a name. 

These friends' were of the Good Samaritan 
type. They "staked" him to a horse and 
wagon, as he now puts it, and left to his energy 
and enterprise the task of doing the rest. Of 
his strict and uncompromising honesty they 
were absolutely assured, and if they enter- 
tained any misgivings at any time they were 
based on his youth and inexperience rather 
than upon anything reflecting on his strict in- 
tegrity. With this horse and wagon as prac- 
tically his whole asset, but courage, determina- 
tion and persistence, young Cooper began his 
life work by going about the city purchasing 
old barrels. After a short time his father re- 
lented and made overtures for a reconciliation 
and his return to the parental roof. These the 
son rejected and his father then had him ar- 
rested. The court proceedings that follow^ed 
were a complete reversal of the situation, the 
father being fined and the son released. Sub- 
sequently, his uncle, who evidently realized 
that young Cooper was bound to make his way 
in life, introduced him to a bank in which he 
had an account, with instructions that the 
young man be given advances up to a certain 
limited and modest amount. Today the young 



Coo})er of those strenucnis times can go into 
the same bank, or any other bank in the City 
of rhiladeli)hia, and have his personal check 
for say $100,000 cashed and honored with 
promptitude and pleasure. 

Mr. Cooper, like most business men, suc- 
cessful or otherwise, has had his ups and 
downs in life. But the spirit of enterprise 
which led him into the modest Cdmmercial 
undertaking of his youth remained as part of 
his "make-up" all the time, and coupled with 
energy, ability and good judgment, led to his 
ultimate success. Now he is the sole owner 
and general manager of the extensive cooper- 
age plants in Philadelphia, the one at Tasker 
Street wharf, on the Delaware River, and the 
other at the Northeast corner of Snyder Ave- 
nue and Delworth Street, and also the Union 
Cooperage Company, at Water and Jackson 
Streets'. The former is known as the South- 
wark Cooperage Company and the latter as the 
Enterprise Cooperage Company, and the Union 
Cooperage Company, of the City of Brotherly 
Love. The three are absolutely owned and 
controlled by Mr. Cooper and stand as an en- 
during and conspicuous monument to his suc- 
cessful life efifort. 

Besides these Mr. Cooper is intimately iden- 
tified with other activities and interests. He 
is connected with the Tusten, Olney and Rose 
Building and Loan Associations ; is a member 
of the Improved Order of Red Men, and is also 
associated with the Knights of the Golden 
Eagle and the Order of Elks. 

A staunch Republican in politics, but one 
who never aspired to public office, he is an 
active and alert member of the ^Manufacturers' 
Clul) of Philadelphia, the Mutual Republican 
Club, and the Kensington Republican Club. He 
also holds membership in the Pen and Pencil 
Club of Philadelphia. He is also a member of 
the Philadelphia Board of Trade, of the Vent- 
nor (Atlantic City) Board of Trade, and of the 
Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. ^Ir. 
Cooper has a beautiful country residence at 
Doylestown Pike and Willow Grove, Pa., and 
spends a good deal of his time in extended 
automobile tours throughout the State. 



488 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Mr. Cuoper was married Decemljer 6. 1888, 
at Philadelphia, to Elizabeth Kriippenback and 
has two children, Elsie (now Mrs. Scott 
Thomas), and William Oscar Cooper, now in 
( Government Marine Service, stationed at 
Washington, D. C, who has l)een associated 
Avith his father as the manager of tlie South- 
wark Cooperage, on Tasker Street. 








rjR. IKA WALTON DRI':W is one of the 
forenidSt osteopathic ])hysicians in the City 
of Phihidelphia. lie is ])rofessor of diseases 
of children in the Philadelphia College of 
(^steoi)athy and visiting physician to the ( )s- 
teo])athic Hosj)ital, and has made an en\iablc 
and widespread reputation l)y his treatment of 
feel)leminded children in connection Avitli the 
working of the Municipal Court of the Ouaker 
City. In this particular his system of treat- 
ment has been wonderfully successful and has 
elicited verv warm enconiums both from the 



members of the Iku" practicing in ihe court, 
the judges and the newspapers of the city. 

Doctor Drew is the product of A'ermont, 
having been ]>orn in the City of Uardwick, 
August 30, 1878. He is son of jcjhn H. and 
Eannie A. (Walton) Drew, and his earl\- edu- 
cation was acquired in the public schools of 
his natal city. Later he entered the .Vcadeni}- 
at Hardwick. from which he graduated with 
honors. He began his life-effort in the fields 
of journalism and did editorial work on a 
newspaper in I'.urlington, A'ermont, and on an- 
other in Boston, until 1900. Shortly afterwards 
lie decided to adopt medicine as his profession 
and selecting the field of osteopathy entered 
the College of Osteopathy in Philadelphia, 
from which he graduated in 1911. He then set- 
tled down in the (Quaker City, with which he 
has been identified every since and in which 
he has established a large practice and one 
w hich is steadily increasing. 

Doctor Drew is president of the Eastern 
Alumni Association, is a memlier of the Iota 
Tan .Sigma Eraternity, and is also a member 
of the American Osteopathic Association and 
a director of the Osteopathic Hospital ui Phil- 
a(lel])hia. He is, besides, a member of the 
I 'hiladelphia ( )steopathic Societ}' of the Penn- 
syhania ( )steo])athic Association, and of the 
l')ethe--(la Rescue Mission. lie is affiliated 
with I'.urlington Lodge, Eree and Accepted 
Mas(Mis: Avith the N'ermont Consistory of the 
-Scottish Rite Masons; with Purlington Lodge 
916 I). P. O. E., with Philadelphia Eorest and 
with the Tall Cedars of Lebanon. His only 
Social club is the City, of Philadelphia. 

Doctor Drew is a staimch Republican in 
])olitics. and in religiim an I'^piscopalian. 

He was married in Philadelphia, (October 28. 
1911, to Margaret Spencer atul has two sons. 
He served for ten }ears in the N'ermont Na- 
tional ( ruard and his military record is a most 
admirable and excellent one. 

His residence address is 4610 Wa^ne Ave- 
nue, Germantown, I'hiladelphia. and his office 
address is 625 Land 4'itle Building, Philadel- 
])hia, Pa. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



489 



AXi)Ri-:\\ w iii'.i-i.i'.k 

TP1II-. life story of Aiulrcw W hfolcr is a rvc- 
urd of achievement, luiterint;- the linn of 
Morris Wheeler and Company in 1SS5, at the 
age of nineteen, he is' now senior partner, and 
as such controls the business of one of the 
leading and most progressive iron and steel 
merchants in the City of Philadelphia, lie is 
widely known and highly esteemed and his 
position among the industrial magnates of the 
Quaker City is one of universally recognized 
progress. 

Years of careful training and association 
with the work of his firm has made him fa- 
miliar with the minutest details and to this 
extensi\e knowledge of the business he adds 
a cahii and deliberate judgment, a wide experi- 
ence of commercial life and a personality that 
has won for him many personal friends and a 
host of admirers. 

He is' essentially a business man in every par- 
ticular, and to this fact, coupled with zeal, 
energ}' and ability of a high order, may be 
attributed his standing in the business world 
and his reputation as a man of affairs. 

Air. Wheeler was l)orn in Philadelphia. 
January 2, 1866, and is the son of Andrew and 
Sarah ( Carpenter) Wheeler. .Vfter receiving 
the rudiments of his education in the public 
schools he attended St. Paul's Schocjl, at Con- 
cord, X. II. Later he attended Wharton 
School. Philadelphia, and then entered the 
Cniversity of Pennsylvania, from which he 
graduated in 1885. 

In that year he entered the firm of Morris 
Wheeler and Company, having decided that 
his iife career should be a business' one. Here 
he aijplied himself with ccmnnendable energy 
and zeal to a complete knowledge of the busi- 
ness and thorough mastery of its every techni- 
calit}- and its every detail. For seven years 
he Worked thus, and in 1892 was promoted to 
the po>ition of junior partner. In this ca- 
pacity he continued until 1903. when he was 
made senior partner, wdien the management of 
the great and steadily growing business de- 
volved almost entirely ui)on him. Subse- 



(|nciill}-. he became secretary of the I'ottstown 
I roll C(jm])any and afterwards its treasurer, 
and m I'M.i was elected to the office of its 
])resi(lent. 

hVom l'^0.> to 1913 he was treasurer of the 
American Iron and .Steel Association, whicli 
finally merged into the iVmerican Iron and 
Steel Institute, of which he is a member. I le 
is also a director of the Cruse Kemper Com- 
l)any. 

Mr. W heeler is' a meml)er of the executive 
committee of the American Iron and Steel and 
Heavy Hardware Association and during the 
war was elected their representative at Wash- 
ington. At the request of j. Leonard Replogle, 
Director of Steel Supply of the War Industries 
Board, Mr. Wlieeler accepted the position of 
Chief of the Bureau of Steel Warehcnise Dis- 
tribution and served as a "dollar a year man" 
until the conclusion of the war. 

Mr. Wheeler's' activities in iields outside the 
sphere of his business arc as acute as they are 
varied. He is a member of the council of the 
Swedish Colonial Society and is a life niend)er 
of the Navy League, in which he takes spe- 
cial interest, and holds menibershi]) in the Xa- 
ti'inal Geographical Society, and the Zeta Psi 
I'raternity. 

He is also a member of the Rittenhouse, 
Racquet, Ra]:)bit, Philadelphia Country. Mer- 
ion Cricket, Metropolitan Club of Washington, 
and Musical Art clubs, and is chairman of the 
music committee of St. Mark's Protestant 
Lpiscopal Church, of which he is also an active 
vestryman. 

Mr. Wheeler is an excellent musician and 
has been at times organist in various churches. 
He is' an authority on matters musical, and for 
a quarter of a century has been intimately 
identified with most of the musical events in 
the City of Philadelphia, lie has been asso- 
ciated with the Philadelidiia Orchestra Asso- 
ciation from its inception, and since 1903 has 
been secretary of the board, lie has always 
taken a keen and active personal interest in 
the opera, upon which subject he is' probably 
at his best, and has been for many years in 
intimate association with it. 



490 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



He served as secretary of the committee 
which backed Gustav Heinrich's venture in 
1895-96 and afterward supported Damrosch 
and Ellis, Maurice Grau and Hammerstein. In 
point of fact, he has given most invaluable aid 
to every effort to secure high class music for 
the people of Philadelphia, and being a skilled 
musician his efforts in this direction were 
l)ased on absolute knowledge of all the require- 
ments of a superior musical organization. As 
a result Philadelphia has been provided in all 
these years with the very best in grand opera 
and has been thoroughly appreciative of it and 
of the fact that their musical tastes have been 
so able and generously catered to and provided 
for by a small group of public spirited citizens, 
of whom Mr. Wheeler w^as one of the foremost, 
as he undoubtedly was one of the best posted 
in musical matters and the most energetic. 
Mr. Wheeler, to repeat, is an excellent mu- 
sician. He studied the piano and organ, the 
latter with the late Dr. David D. Wood, and 
has played considerably in public as an ama- 
teur. 

Mr. Wheeler was twice married. His first 
wife was Mary Wilcox Watson, whom he mar- 
ried in 1887, and who died in 1892, and his sec- 
ond, Jennie Pearce, whom he married in April, 
1907. 

His children by his first marriage are Mrs. 
Robert L. Wood and Andrew Wheeler, Jr., U. 
S. N., and by his second John Pearce Wheeler 
and Alexander Bowman Wheeler. 

Mr. Wheeler is a Republican in politics and 
in religion an Episcopalian. His residence 
address is 2137 Locust Street, Philadelphia, 
and his business address Thirtieth and Locust 
Streets, Philadelphia. 

pRANK P. FIFER, hardware merchant, 
with extensive premises at Lehigh Ave- 
nue and Front Street, Philadelphia, was born 
in the Quaker City April 26, 1881, and edu- 
cated in the public schools. His father was 
Edward A. Fifer and his mother, before her 
marriage, was Mary Elizabeth Taylor, and 
each come of a family well known and much 
respected. 



Mr. I^^ifer l:)egan what afterwards turned out 
to be a most successful business life at the 
early age of fourteen. In 1895 he became an 
emi)lovee in the hardware business and con- 
tinued with the firm until 1904, when he de- 




FRANK P. FIFER 

cided to establish a business on his own ac- 
count. For this he was fully equipped, so far 
as vast and varied experience and an intimate 
knowledge of details were concerned, and 
entering into partnership with Henry Beatty, 
he began the second and most important phase 
of his life career. The work of the two part- 
ners was reduced to a system from the start, 
Mr. Fifer taking charge of the store, and also 
applying himself to soliciting factories in the 
Kensington district of Philadelphia, while Mr. 
Beatty devoted himself to the office manage- 
ment. The venture was a decided success from 
the start and was steadily growing each year 
until 1913, in July of which year Mr. Beatty 
died. Purchasing the interest of his deceased 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



491 



partner, Mr. Fifer became sole owner of the 
business, which is today, although the original 
firm name of Fifer and Reatty remains intact. 

After the death of Mr. Batty, Mr. Fifer ap- 
plied all his time, energies and resources to 
the development of the business. He built, in 
addition to the original store, an extensive 
warehouse and garage, and, by dint of hard 
work and by supplying goods that are abso- 
lutely trustworthy, so extended his business 
throughout the State of Pennsylvania that he 
now has a ready market for them in every part 
of it. These goods are strictly and emphat- 
ically of the highest grade, and include a va- 
ried and complete assortment of factory sup- 
plies and mechanics' tools. 

Mr. Fifer is a member of the Philadelphia 
Hardware Association and is prominent in 
Masonic circles, being a member of William 
C. Hamilton Lodge, No. 500, and also a mem- 
ber of Tristram B. Freeman Royal Arch Chap- 
ter, No. 243. An independent in politics, he is 
an active member of the Baptist denomination 
and is treasurer of Alpha Church. He is also 
a prominent and active member of several loan 
and building associations. His recreations are 
automobiling and golf. 

Mr. Fifer was married in Philadelphia Sep- 
tember 9, 1903, to Clara V. Bernard, and has 
one child, Virginia Bernard Fifer. His resi- 
dence address is 929 Foulkrod Street, Phila- 
delphia, and his business address Lehigh Ave- 
nue and Front Street, Philadelphia. 



VJAURICE O'BRIEN HALLOWELL, 
president of the Leeland Surgical Com- 
pany of Conshohocken, Montgomery County, 
Pennsylvania, and one of the leading suburbs 
of Philadelphia, is a remarkable man in many 
respects. Only a little over thirty-five years 
old, he has already made his mark in a sig- 
nally successful business career, and to his 
energy, enterprise and progressive ideas are 
due the establishment and success of at least 
three notable enterprises, of each of which he 
is the guiding spirit and in each of which he is 
activelv associated and identified. 



Mr. llallowell was born in Conshohocken 
March 31. 1883. His father was Horace llal- 
lowell, a well-known and highly respected 
resident of the thriving little town, while his 
mother, who before her marriage was Annie 
O'Brien, came of an Irish family equally well 
known and equally respected. He received a 




MAURICE O'B. HALLOWELL 

sound education in the ])ul)lic schools of his 
native town and in 1899 graduated from its 
high school with signal honors. The question 
of his future career then presented itself and 
after mature deliberation he entered the em- 
ployment of the Ellwood Lee Company, surgi- 
cal supplies, in a necessarily minor capacity. 
He made good from the very start. All the 
energy and ambition of his young life were 
brought into play and as a result of the firm's 
appreciation of his labors he reached a most 
important position within it. Gaining exper- 
ience every year, and every year cultivating 
his inherent business instincts, he remained 



492 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



with tlu- tinii until 191(). when he urt^anized 
the firm, or corporation of the Leeland Surgi- 
cal Company, in C Onshohocken. h^^om the 
\'ery first this enter])rise, l)ase<:l as it was on 
strictly business metlnxls. on a foundation of 
e(|uity. was a marked sticcess and one year 
later Mr. ilallowell organized the firm of 
I'hesterman and Streeter, and the Leeland 
Surgical Company, of which he is now ])resi- 
dent. In consequence of the immense strides 
made l)y the com])any more commodious 
])remises were absolutel}' necessary, and in 
1918 renn)val was made to 902 Mcmtgcmiery 
Avenue, Philadelphia, where a large number 
of operatives are employed to handle an al- 
ready large and still steadily growing trade. 

Mr. Hallowell is connected with no ])rofes- 
sional associations or other fraternities. Hi:, 
recreations are golf and tennis, and he is a 
])rominent and acti\e member of the Merion 
Cricket Club, lie is also associated with the 
Plymouth Cotmtry Club and the ( )ld Colonv 
Club. Me is a Re])ublican in politics and in 
religion is a Roman Catholic. lie was mar- 
ried at PaAonne, New jersew ( )ctober 8, 1910. 
to Gertrude A. Jouette. His residence address 
is 925 Fayette Street. Conshohocken. Pa., and 
his business address <*02 .Montgomer\- A\-enue, 
Philadelphia. 



£l)\\l.\ KbHTIl .\b:LS( ).\. manufacturer of 
textiles and \ice-president of the l'',dd\- 
stone Print Works, ,-it l-'ddystone. Penn^^-l- 
\-ania. is a Scnitherner by birth and a .Xorth- 
erner b_\- the accident of circumstances. lie 
was born in \A'ilmington, North Carolina, in 
1859, on the eve of the Civil War, and his child- 
hood days were jjassed amidst the disasters 
and vicissitudes of its environments. His 
lather lost his life while in command of a Con- 
federate blockade runner, and his mother (h'ing 
shortly after he was left i)ractically alone in 
the world. His youth was spent under the 
care and supervision of a guardian apjxiinted 
by the courts and after securing a sound edu- 
cation in a special private course he drifted 
-North at an earlv age. 



luitering the employment of the luldystone 
Manufacturing Company, as telegraph oper- 
ator and clerk, so far l)ack as the year 1875, he 
has remained with the firm ever since, and mav 
now be regarded as, to a large extent, its guid- 
ing spirit. Through energy and devotion to 
duty he soon won the friendship of the various 
members of the Simpson family, who advanced 




I':d\\in k. Nb:LS( )N 

him rapidly in recognition of his business aljil- 
ity and industr}'. As an illustration of these 
pronounced faculties in .Mr. Nelson's career 
it may be incidentall}' noted that the bridge 
spanning the Ridley l\i\er, at I^'ourth Street, 
Chester, Pa., is one of the creations of his 
energy and zeal. Acting on his suggestion as 
t(j the pressing need of such a structure, the 
project was placed in his hands, and with the 
aid of the columns of the Chester Times for 
publicity purposes was brought to a successful 
issue in 1892 when the bridge was built. 
Shortly following this, the compan}- placed on 



THE STORY OF J'HILADELFHIA 



4S;3 



Mr. Xi'lson the rcsponsihility ot creating- a 
ijurchasins;' dcpartnu'iil. which he acc( >ni])lishc'(l 
alon.i^ scicntil'ic hues. 

As ihv rcsuh of an intense and prolmi^c'd 
trade warfare, the textiU' printinj;- Imsincss 
readied a crisis in P'O.v Some inii)ortant con- 
cerns collapsed while the luld_\-stonc Trint 
Works, thoui^di financially sound, had to close 
its plant. 

At thi> juncture Mr. W. W Simpson houj^ht 
a controllint;- interest, hecoming i)resident and 
treasurer. Air. Nelstju was elected \ice-i>resi- 
dent. which office he now holds. The works 
immediately resumed oi)erations and the l)usi- 
ness w-as thoroughly reorganised. The char- 
acter of service rendered hy Mr. Nelson in this 
crisis ma\- he judged hy the fact that he was 
presented outright with one of the finest i)rop- 
erties in Ridley i*ark, where he has resided 
since 1905. 

In 1910 the American Cotton Manufactur- 
ers' Association selected ]Mr. Xelson as one ot 
a committee of experts to frame a salesnote to 
control transactions involving man}- millions 
of dollars annually. Since then he has heen 
frequently called into consultation with husi- 
ness leaders with a view toward improving 
trade customs and conditions. Me ])Ossesses 
the friendship of many of the foremost hank- 
ers, manufacturers and merchants in the 
L'nitcd States, and is a mend)er (.)f \-arious na- 
tional and international organizations sjjccial- 
izing on such suhjects. 

Air. Xelson was one (jf the founders of Rid- 
lev Park National Baid<, of which he is lirst 
vice-president. lie is also a mend)er of the 
Citv Cluh of IMiiladelphia, Pen and Pencil 
Cluh. Philadelphia Yacht Clul), Philadelphia 
l"hand)er of Commerce, .\ational Association 
of Cotton Manufacturers, American ( ieograph- 
ical Societv, Sachems Head (Connecticut) 
^'acht Cluh. and \-arious other organizations 
and chd)S. 

CHARLES S. SCHELL 

r^NlC of the most prominent and widely 
known cotton varn tuerchants ot Philadel- 
phia is Charles Saunders Schell. nuMuher of 



till' wfU-known firm of Schell. Langstrtth and 
("ompanw Porn in Philadelphia, juni- .">, 1885, 
and son of Harrison P.. and I'ertha l\. < Levin I 
Schell, he rect'i\-e(l his elenientar)- e(lucation in 
ihe puhlic scho<)I^ and later attended a gram- 
mar school and the Central Nigh School of the 
(Juaker City, from which he graduated with 




cn \rlp:s s. sc hi-.ll 

honors. He then t(X)k up a l)usiness ccjurse in 
one of the Philadel])hia institutions, and thus 
jirepared for the hattle of life, hegan what has 
turned out to he a signally successtul career, 
at the age of seventeen. In that }-ear — that is 
to sav in 1902 — he hecame associated with the 
firm of which he is now a memher. l"\)r lifteen 
\ears he ap])lied himself to the complete mas- 
tering of everv detail of the husiness and when 
this was achieved, in 1917 he was admitted 
into i)artnership. 

Mr. Schell is essentially and emidiatically a 
husiness man and as such professional, fra- 
ternal, or technical association have few. if 



494 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



anv, attractions for him. The greater part of quently in its high school, he began his life 
his active, strenuous and successful life is de- career at an early age, selecting the coal busi- 
voted to the interests of business, yet when ness as the field of his endeavor. After filling 
this is disposed of he finds time to enjoy a some minor positions with the greatest credit, 
game of tennis, or golf, which forms his chief he was appointed superintendent of the coal 
recreations, and in each of which he is said to piers of the Lehigh and W'ilkes-P.arre Coal 
€xcel. His clubs are the Manufacturers' of 
Philadelphia, the City and the Stenton Coun- 
try, and in each of these he takes a keen and 
decided interest. 

In politics a Republican and in religion an 
Episcopalian, Mr. Schell has never aspired to 
public office, but is a liberal advocate and sup- 
porter of all social or civic reforms in his na- 
tive Philadelphia. He was married in German- 
town, Philadelphia, October 21, 1908, to Vida 
J. Binns and has two children. His residence 
address is 360 West Duval Street, German- 
town, Philadelphia, and his business address 
is 230 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. 



ROBERT BARCLAY BEAHM 

T^OREMOST amongst the wholesale coal 
dealers of Philadelphia stands the firm of 
Beahm and Company, Incorporated. It deals 
extensively with the anthracite and bituminous 
products of Pennsylvania, and its reputation 
for probity, enterprise and initiative is coex- 
tensive with its great and still steadily grow- 
ing trade. Of this company Robert Barclay 
Beahm is the president and guiding spirit. 
Many years of intimate association with the 
coal industry and a necessarily thorough expe- 
rience have qualified him for the position he so 
efficiently fills, and in the vast industry of 
which Pennsylvania is so justly proud, and 
which is one of the main sources of her eco- 
nomic wealth and prosperity, there is probably 
no other man with more extensive or more 
intimate knowledge of his business. 

Mr. Beahm was born in Mauch Chunk, 
chief town of Carbon County, and the very 
heart of the coal-mining regions of Pennsyl- 
vania. His birth occurred on February 23, 
1853, and he was the son of Israel and Mahala 
(Dodson) Beahm. Educated in the elemen- 
tary schools of his native town, and subse- 



i 


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;, ■ ; ' i.v.,. 



ROBERT BARCLAY BKAHM 

Company at Port Johnson. This position he 
left to become salesmaster of Weston, Dodson 
and Company, Incorporated, and for twenty- 
five years he discharged the exacting duties 
incidental to the position to the utmost satis- 
faction of the company. He was for ten years 
president of the Mount Hope Coal Company, 
which then became merged with Beahm and 
Company, the corporation of which he is the 
well-known and widely esteemed head. He is 
also director of the Garrett County Coal and 
Mining Company, of Dodson, Md. 

Mr. Beahm is' a member of the Society of 
Mining Engineers, and also member of the 
Pennsylvania Society of New York. When 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



495 



not engaged in business, he spends a good deal John Ashurst and William (ioodell, and such 
of his time in active outdoor exercises, his close association with a group of men so emi- 
recreations being fishing, hunting, horseback nent in the medical ])r()fessi()n was of incal- 
riding, automobiling and golf. His only club culable advantage to him. It instilled in his 
is the Union League of Philadelphia. In poli- mind an enthusiasm for and love of his work 
tics Mr. Beahm is a staunch Republican, and which largely influenced his later life and con- 
in religion a Methodist. He was married in trihuted in a marked degree to his success. 
Sharon Hill, Ta., in 1889, to Eleanor E. McCon- 
nill, and has one son, Hugh Arthur l>eahm. 
This son enlisted in the United States Navy in 
July, 1917, during the war with Germany, and 
was commissioned assistant paymaster, with 
the rank of ensign, and assigned to the battle- 
ship Yorktown, on which he saw much service 
in foreign waters, the ship's station being (jib- 
raltar. Mr. Beahm's residence address is 
Sharon Hill, Pa., and his business address 
Harrison Building, Philadelphia. 



£)R. HENRY BEATES, Jr., one of the lead- 
ing and most eminent physicians in Phila- 
delphia, was born in that city December 20, 
1857, and is a son of Henry and Emily A. 
(Baker) Beates. He received his elementary 
education in the public schools, and supple- 
mented this by a course in the Eastburn Acad- 
emy, where he received a broad and liberal 
classical education. This was further extended 
by a course of study in the Classical Institute 
of Philadelphia and in West Philadelphia 
Academy, where he pursued a special course 
until his graduation in 1876. 

Dr. Beates next entered the Medical School 
of the University of Pennsylvania, where he 
soon made a most enviable record. Under the 
preceptorship of Dr. Charles T. Hunter, he 
attained first rank in his class in scholarship, 
and was also prominent and active in estab- 
lishing in the great institution certain rules 
and conditions designed for the material ad- 
vantage of the great army of medical and 
other students. His career at the University 
was a most meritorious, if not an actually 
brilliant, one, and he graduated in 1879 with 
the degree of Medical Doctor. Previously to 
his graduation he acted as clinical assistant to 
Professors D. Hayes Agnew, William Pepper, 




HENRY BEATES, JR., M. D. 

Immediately after graduation he established 
a practice, and so raj)idly gained reputation 
and fame that in January, 1894, when he was 
only thirty-seven years old, (Governor Pattison 
appointed him member of the state board of 
medical examiners, a position he has since con- 
tinuously held, having been reappointed by 
every succeeding Governor of Pennsylvania. 
These reappointments have invariably been 
made against the opposition of certain proprie- 
tary schools and colleges, interested in passing 
as many medical students as possible, regard- 
less entirely of their fitness or ability. To this 
wholesale endorsement and approval of inef- 



496 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



ticients. Dr. I'.eates has been steadily and in- nioxcd to Ahin^^ton, I 'a., where young Ambler 
flexil)!}- ()i)i)used. Avith the natural result that receixed his education, and where, as one of 
the l>est interests of the medical ])rofes-;i( 111 are its most ])rominent and most esteemed citi- 
conserved and the health of the i)ublic-at-larg-e zens. he now resides. 
safeguarded and ])rotected. 

Dr. Beates is a member of the r'hiladeli)hia 
Medical Club, in which he has always taken 
an active interest. He also holds membership 
in the State ^Medical Society, the Thiladrlphia 
County Medical Society, the Northern Medi- 
cal Society and the Pathological Society, and 
is a Fellow of the College of Physicians. Ik- 
is also a member of the Academy of Natural 
Sciences, the .Vmerican Academ_\- of IVditical 
and Social Science, the ( leological Societ_\- of 
America, the American Association for the 
Adxancement of Science and the Archeolog- 
ical Association of America. In recognitiim 
oi his high attainments in his profession. 
\\'ashington and Jefferson Ccdlege honored 
him with the degree of Master of Science in 
1905. and in l''ll awarded him the further 
degree of Doctor of Science. 

Dr. Beates is a meml)er of the I'nion 
League of Philadel])hia and of the Ctjutempo- 
rarv Club, and is most prominent in the social 
life of the city. He was married Se]>teml)er 
3, 1896, to Agnes TreA-ette Harrington. Mis 
residence address is 1504 Walnut Street, 
I'liila<lelphia. CHAKLh.S A. A.Ml'.LhLR 




CHARLES A. AMBLER 

npC) ILVVE been Speaker of the House of 
Rei)resentatives of the great State of I'enn- 
SAdvania at the comparativel_\- earl_\- age of 
fortv-one is an honor and a distinction of 
which few men in public life can boast, and 
em])hasizes in a marked degree the abilitw 
]jolitical integritv and general fitness of the 
incuiid)ent of such high and responsible office. 
d"(> this exceptional honor Charles A. 
Ambler can lay claim, and he can also point 
to the record of a public life of distinction and 
usefulness in the ])olitics of his natixe Key- 
stone .State. Mr. Ambler was born in jenkin- 
town. -Montgomery County, on Januar\- 5. 
18/4. -Shortly after his birth his parents re- 



After graduating frtmi the Abingt(_)n school. 
Mr. Aiiil>ler assisted his father cjn the farm. 
W hen twent\' Aears of age he decided to liegin 
life on his own account, and. with this object 
in \iew. jmrchased a general store at .\bing- 
ton. and has continued in that business, both 
at .\bington and W yncote. e\'er since. In 
18''7 he was appointed i)ostinaster of .Xbing- 
te)n. and two Aears later l)egan his ])olitical 
career by l)eing elected meml)er of the Mont- 
gomer\- Count\' l\e])ublican COmmittee. This 
position he resigned, together with the ])ost- 
mastership. in 1902. when he was elected to 
the House of l\epresentati\es. Two years 
later he w.'is re-elected, and was also re-elected 
in 1906 and 190S. In PUO he dro])ped out. but 
in 1912 he again ))resented himself for elec- 



I'llE STORY OP PHILADELPHIA 



49: 



tion, and was ai^'ain trmniphant. 1 -' mj;- before 
this he had ac(|uired an eiuiable reputation 
for political honesty, lie was generally recog- 
nized as both a useful and a prominent mem- 
ber of the State Legislature, and had earned 
the confidence and esteem not only of his con- 
stituents in Montgomery County, but of all 
outside it who were familiar with his public 
career. While in the Legislature he was one 
of the Republican leaders who supported such 
measures as the workman's compensation law, 
the child labor law, women's hours of lalxn- 
and other bills designed for the material and 
moral welfare of the toilers of the state. 

Mr. Ambler was the unanimous choice of 
the House of Representatives as Speaker. 
During the period he wielded the gavel his 
regime w'as one of strict impartiality, and 
both political parties bore testimony to his 
strict sense of fair play. In September, 1917, 
he was appointed State Insurance Commis- 
sioner by Governor Brumbaugh. Immediate- 
ly upon his appointment he declared war on 
all fake concerns in Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Ambler has been a lifelong and con- 
sistent Republican. In social life he is de- 
servedly esteemed and is connected with 
many clubs, among which are the Manufac- 
turers' Club of Philadelphia and the Philadel- 
phia Yacht Club. He is also connected with 
the Masonic Fraternity and the Order of Elks. 

miLLIAM JOSEPH HAGMAN, general 
manager of the well-known Bement-Miles 
Works, at 21st and Callowhill Streets, Phila- 
delphia, has earned widespread and deserved 
reputation as a designer of heavy ordnance 
and armor plate machinery, as well as an ex- 
pert in the designing and manufacture of 
machinists' tools and as a mechanical engineer. 
Born in Philadelphia, of Lancaster County 
parentswho settled there during the CivilWar, 
and w^ho came of mixed German and English 
stock, he received his elementary education in 
the public schools in the city, and later on 
became a pupil of the high school, establish- 
ing there a reputation for aptitude and appli- 
cation to the studies which the curriculum 



l)ro\ided. When he left the high school, Mr. 
Ilagnian entered l.ehigli I'niversity. l)ut after 
a time discontinued the course for more prac- 
tical ])ri\ate instruction in engineering and 
niachine too] desi^'ninir. 



^^^^^^^^K|7 


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^^^pFi 


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Ir 1 


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jB 



W ILLIAM J. HAGMAN 

Having thoroughly mastered these subjects, 
uniting a practical training with an elaborate 
technical education, he became chief designer 
for the firm with which he is now employed. 
In 1900 he became general manager, and 
seven years later became associated, also as 
manager, with the Ridgway ^Machine Com- 
pany, at Ridgway, Pa. 

Mr. Hagman's designing career started at a 
time when the United States Government and 
large corporations began to seek special large 
ordnance and armor plate machinery of Amer- 
ican manufacture. These have, to a very large 
extent, been designed by Mr. Hagman or 
under his supervision, in addition to the mod- 
ern machine tools used in ship and locomotive 



498 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



construction and their allied lines of work. In 
all these departments Mr. Hagman has had a 
large and varied practical experience, and has 
acquired the large fund of technical knowl- 
edge which experience alone teaches. (Jf the 
varied lines of design with which he has been 
associated, that of heavy ordnance and armor 
plate machinery he regards as his specialty. 

Mr. Hagman is a Republican in politics, but 
never held or sought public office. He is 
affiliated with no strictly political societies, 
and the only professional association with 
which he is connected is the American Society 
of Mechanical Engineers. He is also a mem- 
ber of the Union League, Philadelphia, and of 
the Art Club, the Engineers' Club and the Pen 
and Pencil Club, all of the Quaker City. 

Mr. Hagman was married in 1897 to a 
woman of English birth and has one daughter. 

JOHN LOVE SCOTT TINGLEY 

npHE American Railways Company is one of 
the foremost and most prominent public 
utility corporations in the United States. In- 
corporated in July, 1900, under the laws of the 
State of New Jersey, and reincorporated in 
February, 1913. under those of Delaware, it 
has an authorized capital stock of $25,000,000, 
its operations and control cover a most ex- 
tensive field and to it are subsidiary at least 
twenty-five companies. Of such an important 
and powerful corporation John Love Scott 
Tingley, the subject of this sketch, is the es- 
timable, the efficient and the widely popular 
second vice-president. 

Mr. Tingley was born in Philadelphia June 
8, 1865, and is son of Clement and Louisa H. 
(Scott) Tingley, both of whom came of fami- 
lies well known and highly esteemed. He was 
educated first in the public schools of Phila- 
delphia and later at the Episcopal Academy in 
the Quaker City, which he attended from 1877 
until 1881. Shortly after his graduation, in 
which he secured signal honors, he began his 
life work, selecting a commercial career. He 
started as clerk in the employment of the 
Girard Point Storage Company and in this 



capacity obtained a thorough business training 
and absorbed many of the progressive ideas 
which he put into efficient practice later in life. 
Next he secured a position as accountant and 
cashier in the well known shipping firm of 
Peter Wrieht and Sons, where he further 




JOHN LOVE SCOTT TINGLEY 

added to his business experience and commer- 
cial training. The newly chartered American 
Railways Company next attracted him. He 
saw in it a wide and fertile field of efifort and 
of possibilities and, therefore, accepted the 
position of secretary and assistant treasurer. 
In that capacity he made an enviable record 
from the start and on the foundation of that 
record came his promotion to the exacting, 
onerous and highly responsible office of sec- 
ond vice-president. 

In addition to this office, which he so worth- 
ily and efficiently fills, Mr. Tingley is vice- 
president and director of twenty-five compan- 
ies subsidiary to the American Railways Com- 



THE STORY Of PHILADELPHIA 



499 



])anv and is also a <lirecti)r of the Rittcnhoiisi' 
Trust Company. He is an active meml^er of 
the American Electric Railway Association, of 
the National Electric Eight Association, of the 
Pennsylvania Street Railway Association, of 
the National Tax Association and of the 
American Academy of Political and Social 
Science. He is a trustee of the Episcopal Dio- 
cese of I'ennsylvania and is also a prominent 
and active member of the Pennsylvania So- 
ciety Sons of the American Revolution. He is 
an ardent admirer of golf, which forms the 
chief of his outdoor recreations, and holds 
membership in many social and other organ- 
izations, including the Union League of Phila- 
delphia, the Church Club of Philadelphia, the 
St. Davids Golf Club, the Scranton Club, the 
Dayton City Club, the Shenandoah Club, the 
Piedmont Club and the Men's Club of Wayne, 
Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Tingley is a Republican in politics, but 
never sought or aspired to public office. He 
was married in Philadelphia May 10, 1893. to 
Anna Bansson Taylor and his children are 
Dorothea, Eleanor, Louisa and Charles Love 
Scott, Jr. His residence address is St. Davids. 
Pa., and his business address. W'itherspoon 
Building, Philadelphia. 

DANIEL J. NORMOYLE 

npHE Alert Tool Company is one of the best 
known and most widely connected firms of 
its line of business in Philadelphia. It is lo- 
cated at 237-241 North Sixth Street, and the 
products which its army of toilers tufn out are 
too well known and too highly appreciated to 
need other than a passing reference. Of this 
company Daniel J. Normoyle is president, and 
the unanimous verdict and understanding of 
its host of customers is that he is absolutely 
the right man in the right place. 

Mr. Normoyle is a product of the "Mother 
of Presidents" having been born in the Virginia 
of Washington, JefTerson, Monroe, Tyler and 
Woodrow \\'ilson. His birth occurred in 
Alexandria on March 10, 1871. Receiving his 
elementary education in the private schools of 



his nati\'e town. Mr. Xormo} Ic later attended 
the Spencerian Business College, in W'ashing- 
ton, D. C. from which he graduated with hon- 
ors in the class of 1S8S. lie also attended a 
special course in mechanical engineering under 




DANIEL j. XoRMOYLi: 

the tuition of well kiu)\vn engineers. Mr. 
Normoyle began his life career at an early age, 
and when only seventeen Filled the exacting and 
onerous position of chief sales auditor in the 
hrm of Woodward and Lathro]). in W'ashing- 
ton, D. C. The fact that he occupied such a 
position at such an age, and discharged its 
duties with the utmost efficiency, was, in it- 
self, remarkable proof of his superior ability 
and business intuition and gave bright prom- 
ise of a most successful future. 

He remained with tlie firm from 1889 to 
1895, and then became, in 1896, private secre- 
tary to Colonel George \\'. M. Reed, vice-presi- 
dent and general manager of the Pratt and 



500 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Whitney Company, of Hartford, Conn., a cor- 
poration extensively engaged in the manufac- 
ture of machinery and tools and with a capital 
extending into the millions. He continued in 
this confidential capacity for two years and in 
1899 became assistant sales manager of the 
New York branch of the Pratt and Whitney 
Company. 

This position, which by the way was a very 
practical recognition of his ability and zeal, 
and a most decided promotion, he held until 
1900, when he left to become manager of T.ec- 
ton Dickinson Company, of New York. In 1902 
he resumed connection with the Pratt and 
Whitney Company, becoming sales manager in 
the Philadelphia territory. This onerous and 
responsible position he held, with reflected 
credit on his business acumen and initiative, 
until 1916, in which year and for a year pre- 
vious he was also sales manager in Philadel- 
phia territory of the Niles-Bement-Pond Com- 
pany, and largely identified with Pratt and 
Whitney Company, of Hartford, Conn. 

Mr. Normoyle is now, as has been said. 
president of the Alert Tool Company, and is 
also head of D. T. Normoyle, of wdiich flrni 
he is owner. 

He is a member of the Engineers' Club of 
Philadelphia, of the Athletic Club, also of 
Philadelphia, and of the Bethlehem (Pa.) Club. 

His residence address is 1902 Green Street, 
Philadelphia, and his business address, 237-41 
North Sixth Street, Philadelphia. 



WASHINGTON DEVEREUX, chief of the 
electrical department of the Philadelphia 
Fire Underwriters' Association, is one of the 
best known ofificials in the Quaker City, and 
one of the most popular and most highly es- 
teemed. Born in Philadelphia, he comes of 
sterling French and Quaker stock, French on 
the paternal side and Quaker on the maternal. 
His ancestors on both sides were intimately 
associated with the American Revolution and 
were connected with the City of Philadelphia 
and the State of Pennsylvania for man\- 
generations. 



Mr. Devereux was educated in Girard Col- 
lege, and ui)on c|uitting that excellent institu- 
tion spent some time at sea, during which he 
made a voyage around the world. He then 
settled down to the electrical Inisiness in his 
nati\'e city, and made such progress in it that 




WASHINGTON DEVEREUX 

he is today regarded as one of its best experts 
and most reliable authorities. "It would seem 
hard to find a spot in this broad land fre- 
quented by electrical men," says the Electrical 
Review in allusion to Mr. Devereux, "where 
the name of W'ashington Devereux was un- 
known. It has not often been the case that a 
man, to some degree indirectly connected with 
the industry, has achieved such national repu- 
tation, and the fact is all the more remarkable 
because of the modesty and unobtrusive char- 
acter of the gentleman under discussion. 

"Aluch has been said and written lately 
about the matter of co-operation. It is true 
that a good deal of this co-operation has been 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



5(11 



conversational in natnrc. and it is refreshing". 
indeed, to review the work that has been ac- 
complished by Mr. Deverenx in actnally ef- 
fecting red-blooded, virile and vigorons co- 
operation among the various elements" of the 
electrical industry. Washington I)e\'ereux 
began his electrical career, in 1880. with the 
Bell Telephone Company of Pennsy]\ania. 
Since that time he has been constantly en- 
gaged in the electrical industry in the I'nited 
States and the West Indies. He is now chief 
of the electrical department of the Philadel- 
phia Fire Underwriters' Association." 

Mr. Devereux is member American l-.k-ctro- 
chemical Society, American Institute of (elec- 
trical Engineers, Athletic Club of I'liiladel- 
phia, Business Science Club of Philadelphia; 
chairman Committee on Electrical lujuipments 
for Theatres, Studios, Garages and Buildings 
of Public Assemblage of the National Vwv 
Protection Association ; member Committee 
on Signaling Systems Affecting the Fire Haz- 
ard ; past president Electric Club of Philadel- 
phia. Chairman Electrical Conference of Phila- 
delphia, which he organized. The Conference 
consists of inspectors and district managers of 
the Philadelphia Electric Comi)an}-, numicipal 
inspectors, electrical contractors and me- 
chanics and inspectors of the IMiiladelphia 
Fire Underwriters' Association. This Confer- 
ence meets once a month to discuss the regu- 
lations and interpretations of the rules of the 
National Electrical Code, and has demon- 
strated itself to be highly useful and eft'ective. 
Author "Electrical Key," in use by electrical 
inspection Ijureaus and contractors ; past vice 
president Engineers' Club of Philadeli)hia ; 
member Fire Insurance Societv, Gas' Safetv 
Code of the United States Bureau of Stand- 
ards, Washington, D. C. Illuminating luigi- 
neering Society (manager of P^hiladelphia Sec- 
tion) ; honorary member International Asso- 
ciation of Municipal Electricians; past tribune 
Jovian Electrical League (he was statesman of 
the Jovian Order for the eastern district of 
Pennsylvania from October, 1910, to October, 
1912) ; president National Association of Elec- 
trical Inspectors; member National Electrical 



Code (.'(Miiniitlee ; Class \\ member National 
I'.lectric Light Association; associate member 
National l-'ire Protection Association ; niemljer 
xNational Geogra])liical Society and Western 
Associati(jn of Flectrical lns])ectors. 




W ILLIAM CA.MPFIELL) KI-:.\T 

PROMINENT official of coal and cement 
companies. William Canipheld Kent has 
been associated with these and their allied in- 
terests during the greater jjeriod of a most 
active and a most successful life. His busi- 
ness career began in 1880, in association with 
the Lehigh \'alley Railroad Company, and 
since then he has been continuously identified 
with the |)ro(luction and sale of the most valu- 
able and most extensive product of the min- 
eralogy of Pennsylvania. His training in this 
respect has been thorough ; his experience 
wide and varied, and with both has come to 
him a knowledge of the coal industry unsur- 
passed by that of any coal operator in the 



502 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Keystone State. I'his knowledge and this ex- 
])erience are placed at the disposal of the sev- 
eral corporations with which he is connected, 
and has contributed in a large degree to the 
unqualified success of each. 

]\Ir. Kent was born in Ashland. Pennsyl- 
vania, April 8. 1862, his father being Francis 

Sayre Kent, and his mother, before her mar- 
riage, Anne Sockett. He was educated in the 
public schools of his native town, and when 
eighteen years old began the business career 
of w'hicli he has made a remarkable success. 
Entering the general freight office of the 
Lehigh Valley Railroad Company in 1880, in 
a minor position, in Mauch Chunk, he con- 
tinued in its employment for four years, ac- 
quiring in each of these a thorough training 
and an experience most useful to him in after 
life. In 1884 he left the company to associate 
with the Leienring and Coal Company and 
its vast allied interests. He remained attached 
to the company's Alauch Chunk office until 
1893, when he was transferred to the Philadel- 
phia office of the corporation, in whose em- 
ployment he still continues, filling the im])or- 
tant positions of vice president and director. 

Mr. Kent's activities and interests extend to 
and are identified with many other companies. 
}ie is vice president of the Virginia Coal and 
Iron Company, of the vStonega Coke and Coal 
Company, of the J. S. Wentz Company, of the 
Interstate Railroad Company, of the Royal 
Colliery Com])any, of Maryd Coal Company 
and of the Alidvalley Coal Company, and is 
also secretary and treasurer of the Whitehall 
Cement Manufacturing Company. In addition 
to these numerous activities, he is executor of 
many estates. So that it may l)e truly said of 
him that he is "a busy man" within the usual 
limits of the ordinary w-orking day. He is also 
vice president and manager of the Legal Aid 
Society of Philadelphia and a member of the 
Cheltenham Health Board. He is connected 
with no scientific or technical organizations, 
but is a prominent Royal Arch Mason and a 
Knight Templar. His onl}- club is the Union 
League, Philadelphia. 



Mr. Kent is a Republican in politics who 
has never held or aspired to public office, and 
in religion is a Presbyterian. He was married 
in Mauch Chunk, Pa., October 20, 1887, to 
Anna Sharj) Ruddle, and has three children, 
one son and two daughters. His residence 
address is Wyncote, Montgomery Countv, Pa., 
and his business address. Land Title Building. 
Philadelphia. 




.\Lr.|{kT D. .MacDADI-: 
**I^K( ).M Xc\\s1)o_\- t<t Lawyer" might be the 
a])])r(i])riate title for a 1)iographical sketch 
of .Attorney .\lbert Button Mac Dade, of Ches- 
ter, for six }ears District Attorney of Dela- 
ware County and mentioned ])rominently now 
for a judgeship in the Delaware County 
courts. 

Attorney MacDade is self-made. He start- 
ed out his business life as a newsboy, and 
arose continuously until he became one of the 
best-known members of the bar in this section 
of the country. P^)r twenty-three years At- 
torney MacDade has practiced law. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



503 



Mr. MacDade is a nali\r Delaware C'oiin- 
tian, having been born on the shores of tlie 
Delaware at Marcus Hook September 23, 
1871, and is a descendant of the I'yle and 
Dntton famiHeS. 

Mr. MacDade is a successful practitioner 
and served six years as the Prosecuting At- 
tornev of his native county with signal ability 
and tidelity to the public trust. 

So satisfactory to the people were his serv- 
ices in the first term of the office that he was 
accorded both the l\ei)ublican and the Demo- 
cratic nominations for a second term, and tlTe 
vote he received at the general election was so 
complimentary that it has been ever since re- 
garded as a high-water mark for registering 
votes for a county official. 

As District Attorney he stood iirm for a 
high order of performance of duty, antl in his 
crusades against vice and immorality and elec- 
tion frauds he gained a state-wide rei)utation. 
Although a Republican in political l)elief, he 
won the respect of all persons, irrespective of 
l)olitical affiliations, l:»y his fair and impartial 
administration of the office and for his judicial 
temperament. 

Mr. MacDade is a graduate of the public 
schools of Chester and of the University of 
Pennsylvania, of wdiich latter institution he is 
a member of the General Alumni Society. He 
is a meiuber of the Union League of Philadel- 
phia, the -American Bar Association and of the 
State Har Association, being on its Member- 
ship Committee. He also is identified locally 
with many social, fraternal and patriotic or- 
ganizations, being a prominent member of the 
Sons of X'eterans, and has a wide circle of 
friends who are interested in having him pro- 
moted to the bench. 

Several years ago he entered a triangular 
contest for the nomination of Judge of Dela- 
ware County and ran a close second to the 
present President Judge, Isaac Johnson, of 
Media, in which contest Federal Judge O. l'>. 
Dickinson was a candidate also. His friends 
say he is the logical candidate, and if elected 
to the bench he would have health, c.xi)erience 



and learning in his favnr. and would l)ring to 
that high office dignit\- and eminent cpialitica- 
tions. 




H 



AR\n^Y BlRCllARD TAVLoR is vice 
president of the Crami)S Shi])i)uilding 
Company, which up to the war with ( lermany. 
in 1918, was the largest i)lant of its kind in the 
United States, and still continues one of the 
leading shii)l)uilding cor])orations of the world. 

Mr. Taylor was born in rhiladeljjhia No- 
vember 17, 1882, and is son of Charles Tracy 
and Sophie ( Cramp » Taylor. After his pre- 
liminary education in the ])u])lic schools, he 
entered the University of l\Minsylvania, from 
which he graduated with honors in 1905. His 
career in the University was an exceptionally 
brilliant one. He was president of his class in 
the senior year and also ])resident of the Hous- 
ton Club, and in 190.> distinguished himself as 
centre of the X'arsity football team, which 
scored many important victories. 

After his graduation, in 1905, .Mr. Taylor 
began his life career by entering, as draughts- 



504 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



man, the hydraulic dei)artmt'nt of the I. P. 
Alorris Company, a subsidiary of the Cramps 
Shipbuilding Company. He retained this posi- 
tion for about three years, and in 1908 became 
assistant hydraulic engineer and in 1911 hy- 
draulic engineer. He had charge of design, 
testing and the sale of machinery for hydraulic 
institutions, and in this connection did a large 
amount of work of exceptional character, in- 
cluding the designing of turbines aggregating 
over one million horsepower and embracing 
the largest turbines in the world. In the four 
years in which he discharged the duties of 
hydraulic engineer his reputation grew apace, 
until he came to be regarded as one of the fore- 
most men in his profession and an authority 
upon anything and everything appertaining 
thereto. In 1915 he became assistant to the 
president of the Cramps Company, and in the 
same year was appointed vice president and 
director. He is also vice president and direct- 
or of the Federal Steel Casting Company, and 
vice president and trustee of the De La 
Vergne Machine Company. 

Mr. Taylor is a member of the American 
Society of Mechanical Engineers, and also of 
the Society of Xaval Architects and Marine 
Engineers. He is an active member of the 
Beta Theta Pi (Phi Chapter) of the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania, and his clubs are the 
Corinthian Yacht of Philadelphia, the Phila- 
delphia Cricket and the University, and the 
Metro])()litan, of Washington, and the Engi- 
neers, of New York. A Repu])lican in politics, 
he never held, or aspired to hold, public office, 
yet is keenly and practically concerned in atiy 
and exery movement calculated to advance 
the interests of his native city. In religion he 
is a Presl)yterian. 

Mr. Taylor was married in Philadelphia, 
December 3, 1908, to Florence Bodine. His 
children are Helen Louis Taylor and Charles 
Tracy Taylor, 2d. His residence address is 
v308 Pelham Road, Germantown, Philadelphia, 
and his Inisiness' address, c/o Cramps' Ship- 
building Comi)any, Philadelphia. 



LIONEL FRIEDAIANN 

/^NE of the most extensively known and 
highl}' popular real estate brokers of Phil- 
adelphia, with offices in the Land Title Build- 
ing, Lionel Eriedmann was born in the Quaker 
City December 25, 1884, and is son of Max and 
Eva (Aarons') Eriedmann, each of prominent 
and much respected Jewish families in Phila- 
delphia. He was educated in the public 
schools of the city and later attended the Jef- 
ferson Grammar School, from which he grad- 
uated with high honors, and then entered the 
Central High School, where his record was 
equally brilliant. Beginning his business ca- 
reer at an early age, he was for ten years asso- 
ciated with the real estate firm of Mastbaum 
Brothers and Eleisher. Here he devoted him- 
self assiduously, mastering all the details of 
the real estate business and when, at the end 
of a decade, he quit the firm to establish for 
himself what has l^ecome a highly successful 
business he brought to bear in the undertaking 
a vast and varied amount of sotmd, solid and 
practical experience. 

Mr. Eriedmann is president of the Jewish 
Seaside Home at Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 
which institution he takes a keen and an active 
interest and the marked success of which is 
due in a large measure to his judicious super- 
vision, his resourcefulness and his ability. He 
is also an active director of the Jewish ]\Ia- 
ternity Plospital and is, in addition, director 
u( the Walnut, the Regis, the Middle City and 
the Loganian lluilding and Loan .Vssociations. 
He is an actixe member of Skekinah Lodge, 
No. 246, Eree and Accepted Masons, and also 
holds meml)ershi]) in the Mercantile Clul) of 
Philadelphia and in the Young Men's Hebrew 
Association. Motoring and golf are his chief 
relaxations and in the latter he is regarded as 
an expert. Jle is an Independent Republican 
in ])olitics, l)Ut never held political office. 

-Mr. Iriedniann was married in New York, 
June 7, 1910, to Natalie Schuldenfrai. and has 
three children : Maxine, Jeanne Elis'e and Bab- 
l)ette Natalie. His residence address is 4845 
Pulaski Avenue, (rermantown, Philadelphia, 
and his business address 832 Land Title Bitild- 
ing, Philadel])hia. 



rilli STORY 01' rniLAni-LFHIA 



5(15 




HON. MAYER SULZBERGER 
Ex-Judge of Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas 



506 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




HON. CHARLES GUMiMEY 



r\ESCb:NDEI) directly from a Welsh family 
which settled in X'irginia in 1635. Charles 
Francis ( iummey, the erudite and much-es- 
teemed Judge of the < )rphans' Court of Phila- 
delphia, was born in the Quaker City Decem- 
ber 22. 1S62. His father was Charles V. (ium- 
mey, and his mother, before her marriage, was 
Mary Emma Schaffer, and both socially ])r()m- 
inent and thoroughly respected in their day 
and generation. 

After the usual course of study at the (ier- 
mantown iVcademy, Mr. (iummey, the sul)ject 
of this sketch, entered the University of Penn- 
sylvania, taking a scientific course, and grad- 
uated from that institution in 1884, with the 



degree of P.achelor of Science. Turning his 
attention to the bar, he read law under the 
tuition of John ( i. Johnson, then and until his 
death the leading lawyer in Philadelphia, and, 
entering the Law School of the University of 
Pennsylvania, graduated in 1888 with the 
enviable degree of I'achelor of Law. ( )n June 
16 of that year he was admitted to the bar of 
I^hiladelphia, and, in association with Lion. ]\L 
Hampton Todd, continued in active practice of 
his profession until ( )ctober ?)\. 1910, when he 
was appointed by (Governor .Stuart to the posi- 
tion of Judge of the ( )r])hans' Court. 

At the bar Mr. (iummey's career was a most 
brilliant and successful one, and u])on the 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



507 



bench it is eciiially brilliant. Possessini^ to the 
fullest extent the conlidence of the lawyers 
^Yho practice in his court, as well as that of 
litigants and public alike, he is held in the 
Jaighest esteem l)y all classes, and is generally 
regarded as amongst the ablest, most i)ains- 
taking and most scrupulously ccjinscientious 
jurists in the city of Philadelphia. He is a 
member of the Central Committee of the 
Alumni Association of the University of Penn- 
sylvania ; is ])resident of the Society of Ahunni ; 
a member of the Law Association of Philadel- 
phia, of the Sons of American Revolution and 
of the Historical Society of IVmnsylvania, and 
of several patriotic and other societies and 
clubs. He was married June 7, 1900, to Flor- 
ence Catherwood, daughter of John H. Cather- 
wood, and resides at 2126 Locust Street, Phila- 
delphia, with a beautiful country residence at 
Gwynedd, I'a. 



T IRWIN JACKSON was born in the City 
of New York November 23, 1S76, and is 
the son of Wendell Jackson and Rebecca 
Harschberg. One year of his elementary edu- 
cation was secured in his native city and the 
night schools of Philadelphia, to which his 
parents had moved, provided the remainder. 
At the age of fourteen he entered his father's 
clothing store, where he remained until 1900. 
He then entered the law office of Thomas 
Diahl, and after close and diligent application 
to study was admitted to the Bar in 1906. He 
then began an active law practice in the Betz 
Building, a practice which was, and is, most 
successful, and in the course of which he was 
associated with the late Senator John C. 
(Irady, once director of wharves, docks and 
ferries in Philadelphia. 

Mr. Jackson is a Republican in politics, and 
in religion is connected with the Society of 
Ethical Culture. He has held no political 
office, but during the administration of Mayor 
Reyburn was appointed by the civic executive 
a member of the Business Men's Committee to 
further and conserve the interests of Philadel- 
phia. He represents a large number of build- 



ing and loan ass(jciations and his clientele is 
large and representative of various im])ortant 
interests. 




I. IRWIN JACKSON 

Mr. lackson is a member of the Law Asso- 
ciation of Philadelphia and also IkjUIs member- 
ship in Rising Star Lodge, V . and A. M.; No. 
126 Lodge, Loyal Order of Moose; Paconta 
Tribe, No. 31, I. O. R. M., and lMiila(leli)hia 
Aerie, No. 42, F. O. of \\. In January, 1906, 
he was married to Lena Loeor. His business 
address is Real I^:state Trust I'.uilding. Phila- 
delphia. 

ALBERT LODOR WANAMAKl-.R is one 
of the best known lawyers in Philadelphia 
and one of the most highly esteemed. F.orn in 
the Quaker City September 4, 1873, he is son 
of F. Marion Wanamaker and Ira M. (Lodor) 
W'anamaker. After securing the rudiments of 
his education in the public schools of Phila- 
delphia he attended the Central High School, 



508 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



from which he graduated with honors, bear- 
ing oft the degree of IJachelor of Arts. He 
then entered the Law School of the University 
of Pennsylvania and after a brilliant course 
graduated with the degree of Bachelor of 
Laws'. 

After his graduation Mr. W'ananiaker ct)n- 
tinued his study of practice of the law in the 
office of P. F. Rothermel. Jr., where he gained 
an extensive and varied experience. He then 
went into an office himself on his own account 
and now has a practice that is ample evidence 
of his legal ability and of the many other indis- 
pensable qualities that go to make up the bril- 
liant and successful lawyer. To this ])ractice 
he has steadily devoted his life and for him the 
fertile held of politics has had no attraction. 
A stalwart Republican he is, and always has 
been keenly interested in the civic welfare of 
Philadelphia and cordially and earnest!}' s}-m- 
pathizes with and supports every noteworthy 
})ublic moxement towards her material benefit. 

Mr. \\'anamaker is a Mason, associated with 
Rising Sun Lodge, No. 126. He is also a 
'rhirty-sec(jnd Degree Mystic Shriner, a mem- 
ber of Lulu Temple, and also a meml)er of the 
Fraternal < )rder of Lagles. He was married 
in Philadelphia March 19, 1902, to Amerie ( lar- 
land. His business address is Real Instate 
Trust lUiilding. IMiiladelphia. 

A GNb:W T. DICE, president of the Phila- 
del])hia and Reading Railway Company, 
was born at Scotland, Pa., November 2, 1862. 
He attended the little red school house of tra- 
(Htional t\ pe, and accepted his first railroad 
job, that of a flagman, in 1882. From flagman 
to railroad i)resident properly describes the 
career of .Mr. Dice; the man who dominates 
the at'fairs of this tremendous corporation, 
under wli^se jurisdiction so many thousands 
of men are employed, and to whom credit was 
given foi- much of the success achieved by the 
great concern, is' one of the most modest men 
in public b'fe in this State. He is modest and 
courteous, but geniality is not counted as 
among his most noticeable qualities. He is 
not the smiling, rough and good-natured type 



to which liis ])redecessor, (ieorge F. Baer, 
belonged. When he ascended to the presi- 
dency of the company, a railroad brakeman re- 
marked : 'It was inside inill that did it." 
"No," res])cnded the fellow employee who had 
known Dice ahncjst all his life, "It was outside 
push."' 




AG NEW T. DICE 
Mr. Dice, at an early age, quit school to be- 
come a flagman for a civil engineer. Before 
he was 19 years old he accepted a job with the 
Pennsylvania Ivailroad. That was in the days 
when a youth could ])ecome an engineer with- 
out formal academic training, and because of 
his remarkable mechanical and mathematical 
ability Dice had little difficulty in attaining 
high rank in that profession. He had been a 
rodman and traveled over rough roads with 
gangs of laborers, many of them of foreign 
birth. He enjoyed not only an opportunity to 
learn engineering in "i)ractical" w^ay, but to 
observe human nature, an opportunity proved 
in later vears to have been a most valuable 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



509 



one. In ISS/ lie was sent \)\ the Tennsxlvania 
Railroad to Altoona to i)erfect a new signal 
system. He accomplished that task in a man- 
ner that won the appreciation of his superiors 
and was regarded thereafter as a signal ex- 
])ert of high standing. If there is any one fact 
more than another that earns for Mr. Dice the 
respect of the railroad employees it is because 
he has been a "practical man." He is not only 
a financier, nor did he rise to his important 
office by virtue of any social connections or 
family influence. He knew the parts of a loco- 
motive ; he understood how steel tracks were 
made, and he was an expert in signalling. He 
was none the less capable, however, as' an ad- 
ministrative factor, because of his knowledge 
of the railroad's technical side. 

On New Year's day, 1892, the New York 
Central Railroad wrote to him and offered him 
a position as superintendent of signals. A 
year later he became head of the Hudson Di- 
vision of that railroad, one of the most im- 
portant branches of the Vanderbilt system. 
Mr. Dice's first job with the Reading system 
was as superintendent of the Atlantic City 
Railroad. He undertook this in 1894 when the 
popularity of the resort was rising, and the 
faculties of the road had to be increased. His 
next promotion brought him to the superin- 
tendency of the Philadelphia freight termi- 
nals, and he later became the head of the 
Shamokin Division. General superintendent, 
general manager, vice-president and president 
were the next successive steps in his career. 
As president he succeeded the late Theodore 
Voorhees. "No place was good enough while 
there was another place ahead," was the way 
in which a friend of his explained his success. 
His son, a graduate of Princeton, is in the 
employ of the Reading. When he left college 
Mr. Dice hesitated about permitting his son 
to work for the Reading. But he urged that 
it would be unfair to handicap the boy by re- 
fusing to allow him to enter a career of his 
own choice. Upon the outbreak of the war he 
served his country, but upon its conclusion he 
became identified with the Aluminum Com- 
pany of America. The elder Dice's wife was 



fdrmerly Miss Margaret I'.oone, of St. Clair. 
Ta. Their children are .\gnew T. Dice, Jr., 
Mrs. Randolph Stauffer, wife of a prominent 
Reading law^yer, and Mrs. William Mann 
Prizer. of Wynne wood. Hie Dice home has 
for many years been at Reading. 

Both Mr. and Mrs. Dice have hehtnged to 
the Christ Protestant h'piscopal Church of 
Reading for many years. Although they have 
a cottage in Atlantic City, they spend a part 
of the summer in Reading. Mr. Dice never 
absents himself from his office for trifling ill- 
nesses. When he suffered a lireakdown his 
secretary said, "You kno^v men of Mr. Trice's 
type never give up unless they hayc to." One 
feature of Mr. Dice's career is specially inter- 
esting. It is the fact that almost all his early 
comrades in the railroad business attained un- 
usual success. Although they, of course, are 
less prominent that he, they, too, managed to 
rise above the ranks and several of them are 
still rising. Mr. Dice is of Scotch descent. 
His odd name often causes acquaintances to 
inquire his nationality and from ]\Ir. Dice him- 
self comes the information that his maternal 
ancesters were natives of Scotland. Mr. Dice 
seems proud of the fact, too. He is a mem- 
ber of the Union League, Rittenhousc Club, 
and the Hunting Valley and Sea \'iew Golf 
clubs. 



M' 



EMIL VEIT 

■R. VEIT is the son of Carl Veit and his 
wife Louise. He was born in Germany on 
January 31, 1867. He received a liberal edu- 
cation in the schools of his native land, and 
after attaining his majority in 1888 decided to 
try what fate had in store for him in the great 
and younger land across the Atlantic. Set- 
tling down in Philadelphia as a dyer he pro- 
gressed with the times and filling many posi- 
tions involving trust, responsibility and 
energy, ultimately gained the position which 
he now holds and the duties of which he dis- 
charges with credit to himself and growing 
profit to the company. 

The firm's business is entirely controlled b\' 
Mr. Emil \'eit, who holds the dual ])osition of 



510 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



president and treasurer, and whose business 
judgment can invariably be relied upon. 

Like many other Germans who have made 
the United States the land of their adoption, 
Mr. Veit became a naturalized citizen after the 
statutory period and joined the ranks of the 
Republican party, of which he has ever since 
been an earnest, if not an active, member. 

He married Katie Luithlen in 18%. Mr. 
Veit is a prominent member of the Philadel- 
phia Turngemeinde, the German Society of 
Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Schuetzen, the 
Canstatter Volksfest V'erein and the Masonic 
Order. 

He is also connected with the Manufactur- 
ers' Club of Philadelphia. His residence ad- 
dress is Southwest corner Twelfth and Chelten 
Avenue, Frankford, Philadelphia, and his lousi- 
ness address, J and Estaugh Streets, Phila- 
delphia. 

IN MEMORIAM 
JOSEPH T. JACKSON 

WHEN, in the year 1918, death claimed 
Joseph Taylor Jackson, there passed away 
to his eternal reward one of the most widely 
and popularly known, as well as one of the 
most highly esteemed citizens of Philadelphia. 
Living two years beyond the Biblical span of 
human life, his career through that life was a 
record of unblemished integrity, of a high 
sense of honor, of noble ideals, of strict un- 
selfishness and of a usefulness that was as 
freely recognized as it was generally and gen- 
erously appreciated. He was, in point of fact, 
a man in a thousand — a man of energy, of 
enterprise and of initiative — and when he 
passed away, at an honored and honorable old 
age, his passing was sincerely and deeply re- 
gretted by a host of friends, both in the 
Quaker City and beyond its limits. 

Coming of the good and sturdy Quaker 
stock, so intimately associated with the city 
of Philadelphia and the State of Pennsylvania, 
Mr. Jackson w^as born in West Grove, Penn- 
sylvania, March 30, 1846, and was the son of 
Israel and Jane (Taylor) Jackson. He re- 



ceived his early education in the public school 
of his native town and later attended the New 
London Academy, the Kenneth Academy and 
the Normal School at Millersville, Pa. He be- 
gan his life career in the Chester County Bank, 
where he remained until he had attained the 




J(JSI<:PH T. JACKSON 

position of teller. He then came to Philadel- 
phia, where he entered a real estate office. 
With this firm he continued until 1876, when 
he started in the real estate business on his own 
account with an office at Seventh and Walnut 
Streets. In 1910 he chartered the J. T. Jack- 
son Company, of which he was president, with 
a branch at Oak Lane. He was also president 
and director of the Kali-Inla Coal Company 
and secretary, treasurer and director of the 
Physicians' and Dentists' Building Company. 
In addition he was a director of the Real Es- 
tate Title and Trust Company, of the Chamber 
of Commerce of Philadelphia, of the Real Es- 
tate Brokers' Association and of many other 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



511 



corporations. He was a life nuMiil)er of the 
L'nion League of Philadelphia, and also an 
active member of the Historical Society of 
rennsylvania, of the Franklin Institute. Phila- 
delphia, of the Philadelphia Country Club, of 
the Old Colony Club and of Kenneth Lodge, 
No. 475, Free and Accepted Masons. He was 
married in Philadelphia to Elizabeth Maybin 
and had one daughter, the wife of Professor 
Frederick L. Paxson. 

Mr. Jackson w^as a stalwart Republican in 
])olitics, but never aspired to the holding of 
public office, devoting most of the time to the 
business which his methods, prestige and 
reputation had made so signally successful. 

GEORGE ALLEN LIPPLXCOTT 

PHILADELPHIA leads the other great cit- 
ies of the United States in so many things, 
especially within the sphere of manufactures, 
that her status in this respect is so established 
and recognized as to admit of no controversy 
whatever. ]\Iany of the great and varied in- 
dustries that have sprung up or been de- 
veloped throughout the country since colonial 
days are peculiarly her own, and although 
competition, keen and aggressive, has nat- 
urally existed outside her boundaries' the 
motto, or trade-mark, of "Made in Philadel- 
phia" has lost nothing of its potency in the 
markets of the United States, or of the world. 
Take, for instance, the manufacture of Ocean 
Pearl buttons. These, as a matter of course. 
are made elsewhere in x^merica, but the cradle 
(jf the industry is emphatically Philadelphia 
and the products of two Philadelphia factories 
are far larger, and have a far wider area of 
sale, than those of any other such plants in 
the United States. These two factories are 
that at 236-238 Ionic Street, and 237-239 Dock 
Street, in the Quaker City, and their products 
of genuine ^Mother of Pearl buttons adorn the 
fronts of almost every good shirt made, or 
Avorn in America today. 

These factories and the immense business 
associated with them — a business which shows 
an uj)ward and a wideawake tendency year 



after year — are the creation of (ieorge Alk-ii 
Lippincott, the sul)ject of this sketch. The 
development of an infant industry to the pro- 
portions of a giant within relatively a short 
time, is, of itself, an index of the character of 
the man who evolved it. and gives i)ractical 
evidence of good business judgment, vast 
energy and a large amount oi enterjjrise. J>ut 
when it is added that the man who created this 
mammoth business out of virtually little and 
whose master-mind moulded the edifice which 
his industry and perseverance erected is even 
now little past the age of thirty, the greater 
must be the credit to which he is entitled, and 
the greater the admiraticjn with which the 
fruition of his labors must be regarded. 

George Allen Lippincott is a product of 
New Jersey. He was born in Salem County, 
in that State, March 6, 18S7. His parents were 
George and Rachel (Wallace ) Lippincott, and 
each came of old, well known and highly re- 
spected families. Mr. Lippincott received his 
education in the public schools of Philadelphia, 
to wdiich city he was brought in his early 
youth, and also in the well known and higliiy 
successful Friends' School of the Quaker City. 
At the age of twenty he began the battle of 
life, starting in the manufacture of Ocean 
Pearl buttons. The start was a modest one 
and quite in harmony with the modest and 
limited ambitions of the young manufacturer 
and merchant. But business grew apace. 
Even at that early age Mr. Lippincott realized 
the force and potency of the adage that, after 
all, honesty is the best policy. The goods 
which he manufactured were strictly what he 
represented them to be— nothing more and 
nothing less. Of their quality the public were 
allowed to judge and the judgment of the 
public, within a short tihie. was that the but- 
tons turned out by young Lippincott were 
superior to others on the market and being so 
superior should be purchased in preference. 

Where the unerring judgment of the public 
led the interests of retail dealers responded. 
The Rainbow^ Ocean Pearl buttons became a 
household word and, as a result, their sale 
enormouslv increased. New and more com- 



512 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



modious i)remises became an absolute neces- 
sity and with the ever-increasing demand the 
facihties for a corresponding increase in the 
supply were provided. The plants at Ionic 
and Dock Street, Philadelphia, are most ex- 
tensive and are thoroughly ccpiipped and uj)- 
to-date. Besides being the largest importer of 
Ocean Pearl buttons in the United States, Mr. 
Lippincott is also a large importer of Oriental 
Mother of Pearl shells, and other foreign prod- 
ucts along this line. He has also started a 
national advertising campaign on a new prod- 
uct known as "Plant Health," which is a food 
and tonic for plants, flowers', lawns and gar- 
dens. uK^nufacturcd from Oriental Alother of 
Pearl. This new industry is but in its infancy 
now, but Mr. Lippincott has absolute faith in 
the jjroduct and anticipates that its use will 
spread not only throughout the United States 
but in every civilized country abroad. 

Mr. Lippincott is affiliated with no social 
or other clubs, or with secret or benevolent 
societies or religious organizations. Neither 
is he a party man in politics. While the ma- 
terial interests of the city with which he is so 
closely and largely identified are always of 
paramount importance to him he confines his 
activities', as a rule, to the mere exercise of his 
rights and prerogatives as a private citizen. 
His home address is 7726 Norwood Avenue, 
Chestnut Hill, Pa., and his business address, 
238 Ionic Street, Philadelphia. 

IN MEMORIAM 
WILLIAM M. LONGSTRETH 
npHERE is probably no .other city in the 
United States in which the work of mu- 
nicipal reform has been carried to such an 
extent as in Philadelphia. During the incum- 
bency of almost every Mayor since the con- 
solidation period, reform of the city govern- 
ment, and of municipal methods in general, 
has been the watchword of the hour, and in 
this patriotic work scores of the best-known 
and most highly esteemed men in Philadelphia 
have been engaged. Year after year, almost 
day after day, they have toiled and planned, 
unselfishly and persistently, to mould the civic 



government of the Quaker City into some- 
thing in harmony with the progressive spirit 
of the age, and to obliterate, as much as pos- 
sible, the stigma and reproach of systematic 
corruption which only too frequently attached 
to it. 

Of the little band of these ardent and un- 
selfish reformers, William M. Longstreth was 
one of the most active, the most unselfish and 
the most distinguished, and when he died on 
December 8, 1918, there passed away an 
ardent and sincere friend of Philadelphia, and 
one of the most willing and persistent workers 
in the cause of good civic government and 
much-needed municipal reform. For many 
years he was closely identified with every pub- 
lic or other movement for the welfare of Phila- 
delphia and was one of the most active mem- 
bers of the Committee of Seventy, an organ- 
ization created for the express purpose of se- 
curing a thorough system of municipal re- 
formation, and including in its membership 
some of the best known and most influential 
citizens of Philadelphia. 

Besides being noted as a reformer, Mr. 
Longstreth was prominent in business and 
financial circles. He was a member of the cot- 
ton yarn firm of Schell and Longstreth and 
bore a high reputation for personal honor and 
business integrity. He was born in Philadel- 
phia July 7, 1855, and was the son of \\ illiam 
Collins Longstreth, who in his day and gen- 
eration was extensively known and much re- 
spected. Mr. Longstreth was a director of the 
Germantown Trust Company and was also 
prominently and actively identified with other 
financial institutions in Philadelphia and the 
State. He was also active in church work 
and was an elder of the First Presl>yterian 
Church and superintendent of the ."-Sunday 
School. He was married to Elizabeth Church. 
daughter of the late William C. Church, for- 
mer treasurer of the Reading Railroad, and is 
survived by his widow and three daughters : 
Mrs. Henry K. Kurtz, Mrs. Carl Dodge, and 
Airs. Stanley Pearson, and by a son. First 
Lieutenant William Church Longstreth, of 
the United States Armv. 



THE STORY OF PJl ILADELFIUA 



513 




J. HARRY MULL 

President of the 

Wm. Cramps and Sons Ship and Engine Building Company 



514 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



L1-:\VIS LILL11-: 
r\¥ THE really great public utility corpora- 
tions that stand out in bold relief in the 
United States, the United Gas Improvement 
Company is undoubtedly one of the foremost. 
\\'ith a capital stock that soars far n\) into the 
millions, it is interested in and identified with 
the gas plants of half a hundred cities through- 
out the United States, and the companies that 
are subsidiary to it are as far between as they 
are many. Some of the leading financial mag- 
nates of Philadelphia are associated with this 
great enterprise, and among the number no 
other man has contributed more to its success 
than Lewis Lillie, the subject of this sketch, 
who is both third vice president and treasurer 
of the great corporation. 

Mr. Lillie, who was born in Troy, New 
York, October 13, 1863, and is the son of 
Lewis Converse Lillie, comes of an ancestry 
long and honorably identified with the United 
States, as with the British Colonies in Amer- 
icc). Among his ancestors were Lieutenant 
luhvard Morris, one of the pioneers and an ex- 
tensive landowner in Roxbury, Mass., in the 
middle of the seventeenth century, and Isaac 
Morris, of Philadelphia, who participated in 
the battle of Germantown and subsecpiently 
endured all the privations of the patriot army 
of Washington at Valley Forge. Samuel 
Lillie, his great-grandfather, an extensive 
landowner and merchant, who was Brigadier 
General of the \'ermont Militia, represented 
the town of Bethel in the General Assembly 
of Vermont from 1815 to 1819, while his 
grandfather, Lewis Lillie, was a large manu- 
facturer of Lillie Chilled Iron Safes, in which 
Inisiness the father of the subject of this 
sketch w^as also associated. Up to forty years 
ago the firm was amongst the most prominent 
in the State of Pennsylvania, and was distin- 
guished alike for its upright dealing and the 
excellence of its products, wdiich commanded 
a large and extensive sale. 

Mr. Lillie began his successful business 
career at the early age of sixteen, wdien he 
accepted the position of clerk in the legal de- 
partment of the Northern Pacific Railroad, in 



New York City. Here he remained for eight 
years, and in 1887 he removed to Philadelphia 
to take up the position of auditor with the 
United Gas Improvement Company. After six 
years' service with the corporation his first 
promotion came. He was made assistant 
treasurer, a position he occupied for about a 
vear, when further promotion came in his ele- 
vation to the responsible office of comptroller. 
For six years he held this position, and then, 
in 19C0, was made secretary and treasurer of 
the company. In 1905 he was elected fourth 
vice president, and seven years later, in 1912, 
was made third vice president, the position he 
now holds. 

Mr. Lillie devotes himself exclusively to the 
business of the U. G. I., but is actively asso- 
ciated with many social and other clubs. In 
these are included the Merion Cricket, the 
Racquet, the Barge and the Whitemarsh 
Country, while he is also a member of the 
New England Society, the Pennsylvania So- 
ciety of the Order of Founders', the Patriots 
of America and many others. He was mar- 
ried in 1890 to Emily Murray, of Philadelphia, 
and has two children, daughters, the only son, 
Lewis, having died in 1909. His home is in 
Haverford, Pa. 

CLAIR P. BURTNER 

"LJARD w^ork, which he enjoys, a large meas- 
ure of enterprise and initiative and an 
almost endless fund of energy, pluck and per- 
severance have been the essential features in 
the life career of Clair P. Burtner. and the de- 
ciding factors in securing for him not only an 
enviable reputation but substantial fortune. 
No environments of wealth characterized his 
birth or boyhood, and no golden opportunities 
presented themselves to ride to or acquire 
wealth. This was secured neither by birth, 
accident nor any other circumstance beyond 
his immediate control. It was due entirely to 
the prudence which he exercised in his younger 
days and to the habit of saving which he had 
acquired and to these two factors towards his 
remarkable success in life may be added a fore- 
sight which enabled him to divine the future, 



THE STORY OF PI I J LADE LP HL4 



515 



to a large extent, and i)r()ve how even a mod- 
est capital, judiciously invested, often leads to 
the pathway of material fortune. 

Mr. Burtner is the son of George and Mary 
(Poinles) Burtner, and was born in Norfolk. 
Virginia, A])ril 6, 18S6. He was educated, for 
the greater part, in the ])ul)lic schools of Al- 
toona. Pennsylvania, and at the early age of 
sixteen began the life work that has led to 
such remarkably good results. At that age 
he entered the employment of the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad Company at Altoona as 
stenographer and remained with the great cor- 
poration for nine years. In that time he ac- 
quired a thorough business training and also 
that keen business instinct and perception 
which were of such material advantage to him 
in after years. Living economically, but at 
the same time well, he accumulated a little 
money and with this he purchased a small 
bituminous mine property at Ashville, Pa. 
This he conducted alone until 1913 when, in 
partnership with H. D. Bowers, he formed a 
company, the mines controlled by which being 
located at Punxsutawney. While conducting 
his initial mining venture ^Ir. Burtner was 
confronted with many obstacles that woidd 
have deterred and discouraged a man of less 
pluck, energy and perseverance. But he lit- 
erally "stuck to the job." overcame all ob- 
stacles and placed the mine on a well-paying 
basis. In 1914 the company he had formed in 
association with Mr. Bowers was incorporated 
with a large capital and now stands amongst 
the foremost mining properties in Pennsyl- 
vania. When incorporation was effected Mr. 
Burtner was appointed general sales agent in 
Philadelphia, where he has a large and ready 
market for the products of his mines, which 
by the way, have a remarkably large capacity. 

Mr. Burtner is a member of the Manufac- 
turers' Club of Philadelphia, which is the only 
association, social or otherwise, with which he 
has any connection. In ])olitics he is a staunch 
Republican, and in religion a Lutheran. He 
was married in Philadeli)hia April 2, 1915, to 
Harriett B. Leister. His residence address is 
4701 Wavne Avenue, Germantown. Philadel- 



phia, and his business address, b'inance lUiild- 
ing. I 'hiladel]iliia. 




JOHN JOSEPH M'DEVITT, JR., well- 
known member of the Philadelphia Bar. 
was born in Philadelphia on August 9, 1879. 
He is a son of John J. McDevitt, and his 
mother, before her marriage, was Amelia M. 
Gardell. Mr. M'Devitt was educated in pri- 
vate and public schools of his native city and 
subsequently attended the Law School class of 
the University of Pennsylvania, from which he 
graduated in 19U) with the degree of Bachelor 
of Law. Immediately after graduation he was 
admitted to the Bar and is now regarded as one 
of the most active trial lawyers' in the city and 
is frequently engaged in the most important 
negligent trials in the State. In April, 1903, 
Mr. M'Devitt married Lillian M. Pfeiffer, by 
whom he has two children, John J. M'Devitt, 
3rd, and Sterling G. ^I'Devitt. :\Ir. :\rDevitt 
is a Republican in politics, and in religion a 
Roman Catholic. 



516 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




EARL MEXDENHALL 



\\n^i'^X one is admitted into the partnershij) 
of a firm amongst the very highest of its 
chiss at the comijaratively early age of twenty- 
nine it may generally be taken for granted that 
he possesses all the essential qnalifications for 
the i)osition. This is especially trne where 
hanks and banking are concerned. By the 
very nature of their business they are conserva- 
tive and cautious. Merit, pure and simple, and 
that product of merit, aljsolute efficiency, is the 
ordinary passport to promotion and wdienever 
l)r(jm<ition is the eft'ect the cause can easily l)e 
seen. 

I''arl -Mendenhall. subject of this sketch, was 
admitted into general partnership in the great 
bankinp" firm of Chandler lirothers and Com- 



l)any before he was thirty years of age. 
I^ogicallv it follows, if the premises herein laid 
down are correct, that he was, in every single 
l)articular. qualified for the position and thor- 
oughl}- al)reast of the important duties and 
great responsibilities associated with. And he 
was. Entering the banking business of the 
firm some eight years before, he applied him- 
self so earnestly, so indefatigably and so 
scrupulously to a mastery of its every detail 
that every detail became most familiar to him. 
When, after a most distinguished and most 
successful university course, he selected the 
field of finance as his life work he probably did 
so in the l)elief that he was peculiarly adapted 
to it and that the fruition of manly honest ef- 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



517 



fort would be success. If that was his feehng- 
and incentive, both feclino^ and incentive were 
riglit, for his life-effort in the business has 
been crowned with a measure of success as' 
great as it is pre-eminently deserved. Today 
the firm of Chandler Brothers and ("ompany 
stands foremost in the vanguard of Philadel- 
phia's greatest financial institutions and no 
member of it, or of an_\' similar firm in the cit}-. 
is held in greater esteem than h'arl Menden- 
hall. 

Mr. Mcndenhall was' born in Chadds Ford, 
Pennsyh'ania. January 5, b'^85, and is the son 
of Aaron and Ilettie Ann (Shoemaker) Mcn- 
denhall . each of the sturdy Quaker stock that 
founded the City of Brotherly Love and were 
among the greatest and foremost of its human 
products. He received his earlier education 
in the Friends' Central School of Philadel- 
phia and later went through a course in the 
University of Pennsylvania, from which he 
graduated, with the degree of B. S. E., in 1906. 
That year he began his life career by entering 
the firm of Chandler Brothers and Company. 

Besides being a partner in this' firm, Mr. 
Mendenhall is intimately connected with other 
business activities. He is a member of the 
Philadelphia Stock Exchange and a director of 
the Quaker City National Bank, vice-president 
of the Olympia Oil Company, vice-president of 
the Ohio River Electric Railway Company, 
vice-president of the Pomeroy and Middleport 
Electric Company, assistant treasurer of the 
St. Lawrence Pulp and Lumber Company, 
director and vice-president of the California 
Copper Company and director of the Arizona 
United Mining Company. 

Air. Alendenhall is associated with many or- 
ganizations and clubs. He is a member of the 
Pennsylvania Society, of the Academy of the 
Fine Arts, Philadelphia, of the American Geo- 
graphical Association and of the Oriental 
Formation. He is also a member of the Sigma 
Alpha Epsilon fraternity, upon the board of 
trustees of which his name appears. He is an 
ardent devotee of golf and his other recrea- 
tions are motoring and fishing. The clubs in 
which he holds membership are the Union 



League oi Philadelphia, the Merion Cricket 
and (]olf Clubs and the Bankers' Club of New 
York. 

The old Mendenhall property at Chadds 
I'^ord, where Mr. Mendenhall was born and 
generations of his family resided, was one of 
the original stations of the famous "Under- 
ground Railway" used to help slaves to es- 
cape to Canada from the Sduth. I It- re hun- 
dreds of fugitive negroes' were received and 
cared for and so famous did the "station" be- 
come that it was often visited by Longfellow, 
Harriet IJeecher Stowe, Robert Collier and 
many other anti-slavery jjropagandists. 

Mr. Mendeidiall is a Republican in politics. 
He never held or aspired to political office and 
his activities in this connection have usually 
been confined to the simple registry of his' vote. 
All the same he takes a keen interest in the 
progress and development of the city in which 
his lifework is being so well and so honorably 
done, and every project for the material ad- 
\'ancement of Philadelphia has his whole- 
hearted and earnest support. He was married 
in Philadelphia (October 8. 1910, to Anna 
Aileen Edson and his children are Aileen Ed- 
son Alendenhall, Emma Chandler Mendenhall 
and Ann Louise Mendenhall. His residence 
address is Golf House Road, Haverford, Pa., 
and his office address, lv338 Chestnut Street, 
Philadelphia. 

ENOCH W. PEARSON 
\/'OCAL sight-reading forms an important 
feature of the public school system of Phil- 
adelphia and is. in every respect, a marked and 
decided success. It was introduced by the 
Board of lulucation in 1897. a special depart- 
ment being created, with Enoch William Pear- 
son at its' head. The selection of ^Nlr. Pearson 
for such a position, and one which so essen- 
tially involves the requirements of perfect 
technical knowdedge and executive ability of 
a very high order, was a most fortunate one 
indeed. By careful training and large exper- 
ience he is exceptionally qualified for it, a fact 
amply and emphatically attested by results 



518 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



and by the record of achievement since the 
department was established. 

Air. Pearson was born in Epping, New 
Hampshire, jNIay 21, 1863. He received a very 
superior education in Phillips' Academy, Ex- 
eter, but left before completing the full course 
to take up the study of music. He studied 
under some of the leading and most famous 
musicians of New England and supplemented 
this experience by a course of special training 
for school work under the direction of two 
professors, each of whom had contributed text 
books to the literature of the subject. After 
completing this training he was elected direc- 
tor of music in the public schools of Nashua, 
New Hampshire, and subseciuently was ap- 
pointed State director. In the schools at 
Nashua there were then about 1600 pupils en- 
rolled with about 170 teachers. As State di- 
rector, Mr. Pearson supervised the work in 
music in eight training schools, and one nor- 
mal school, having in all 300 teachers and 
about 5000 pupils. He also lectured before the 
Teachers' Institute of Massachusetts and of 
New Hampshire and was regarded in New 
England, as he is regarded in Philadelphia, as 
exceptionally expert and an authority upon 
everything within the domain of music. 

Mr. Pearson's success in the Philadelphia 
schools has been most emphatic. With eight- 
een assistants and two special teachers under 
his direction he has accomplished wonders, and 
it can truthfully be said that the system which 
he inaugurated in 1897, and has controlled ever 
since, is in no respect inferior to any similar 
system in the United States, and is far su- 
perior to the majority. The system is as sim- 
ple as it is effective. In the Boys' High School 
the work is done by resident teachers and in 
the Girls' High School, the Normal School and 
the School of Pedagogy it is done by assistants 
to the director and by two special teachers. 
In both these latter institutions the work in- 
cludes normal instruction and practice and ob- 
servation work for the pupil teachers. In the 
elementary schools five twelve-minute periods 
per week are devoted to the subject in each 
classroom, and in the higher schools the sixty 



minutes a week devoted to the subject are 
given at a single period. 

The department of music associated with the 
Philadeli)hia school system has other inci- 
dental activities among which are included the 
organization and development of school glee 
clubs and orchestras, home and school league 
meetings and other features, to each of which 
Mr. Pearson devotes special attention. 




JOHN H. BONGAARDT, manager of sales 
in the Charles' Bread Knife Company, was 
born in Philadelphia April 14, 1872. His father 
was John H. Bongaardt and his mother, before 
marriage, Mary Getz. He was educated in the 
public schools of Philadelphia. 

Air. Bongaardt is a Republican in politics, 
and in religion a Alethodist. He is a director 
of the Walton Building and Loan Association. 
He was married in October, 1899, to Elsie P. 
Townsend and has two boys', H. Lindner and 
H. Townsend Bongaardt. Home address, 
4914 Walton Avenue, Philadelphia ; business 
address, 337 Arch Street, Philadelphia. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



519 



PREDERICK E. SW'OlM-:, JR., was born in 
l'hila(lcli)hia Ecbruary 9, 1875, and was the 
son of b'rederick ]i. Swojje and Josephine 
Swope. nee Simpson. He was edncated in the 
public schools of Philadelphia and later grad- 
uated from lirown's i'reparatory School in the 
Quaker City. After graduation in 1892 he 
entered an electrical laboratory at Ardmore, 
Pa., and two years later entered the law office 
of William H. Woodward, where he read law 
until 1896. He then became connected with 
the real estate department of the German- 
American Title and Trust Company, where he 
remained until 1898. In that year he estab- 
lished in his own name a real estate and con- 
veyancing business, with offices in the Girard 
Trust Compan}- Building, Philadelphia. In 
1906 he retired from the business to accept the 
office of president of the American ^letal 
Works, manufacturers of metal specialties. In 
1912 he was elected president of the Chelten 
Electric Company, manufacturers of electrical 
specialties, and he now holds the office of 
president and director in each of those well- 
known establishments. 

^Ir. Swope is in politics a Republican, but 
has never held public office, and in religion is 
a Protestant Episcopalian. He is a member 
of the Pennsylvania Society, the Sons of the 
Revolution, the Jovian Order and the Rotary 
Club. He also holds membership in the Union 
League, Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia 
Cricket Club. He was married in June, 1898, 
to Anna ^Morgan Morris, by whom he has three 
children. His residence address is 7915 Cro- 
feld Street, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, and 
his business address, 314 Armat Street, Ger- 
mantown, Philadelphia. 

AUGUSTE H. FRIEDRICHS, part pro- 
prietcjr of the Janero Dye \\^:)rks, 
Edgemont and Lehigh Avenue. Philadel- 
phia, was born in lielgium on January 24, 
1885, and was the son of Auguste Friedrichs. 
He was educated at the public and Catholic 
schools of Roubaux, France, and at the Ecolo 
Manufacturiere of \'erviers, Belgium. Com- 
ing to the United States' a voung man he 



started in the dyeing business in Philadelphia 
in 1910. In May, 1907, he married Marie 
Louise Benort, by wdiom he has two children 
— Auguste, Jr., and Russell. 




AUGUSTE H. FRIEDRICHS 
Mr. Friedrichs, who is a Catholic in religion, 
and in politics a Republican; is a member of 
the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 
and his clubs are the Elks, the Knights of 
Columbus and the Cosmopolitan. His resi- 
dence address is 5022 Newhall Street, Ger- 
mantown, Philadelphia, and his business ad- 
dress Third Street, below Huntingdon Street, 
Philadelphia. 

LEMUEL COFFIX ALTEMUS 
DY TRAINING a financier, by occupation a 
coal mines broker, and by good fortune a 
capitalist, Lemuel Coffin .Mtemus holds a de- 
servedlv high place in the financial life of Phil- 
adelphia and is as much esteemed and as pop- 
ular as he is well known. A product of Ger- 



520 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



mantown, that well known suburban extension 
of the Quaker City, of which it forms a most 
prominent and important part, his whole life 
has been identified with it and no resident 
w^ithin the limit of its boundaries has observed 
W'ith greater pride, or interest more keen, its 
steady and persistent growth along the lines 
of modern progress and ever-expanding de- 
velopment. 

Son of Joseph B. and Martha C. Altemus, 
both of families well known and highly re- 
spected in the suburban community, Mr. 
Altemus was born in Germantown in the year 
1868. There he was educated, first in the pub- 
lic schools and later in the well-known Ger- 
mantown Academy, and from there he began 
the life career that has proved so signally suc- 
cessful. His initial step in this direction was 
made in 1887, when, at the age of nineteen, he 
entered the office of Coffin, Altemus and Com- 
})any. Here he secured a valuable business 
training, which was' extended and emphasized 
later on when he became connected with the 
well-known l)anking and brokerage firm of 
George H. Huhn and Sons, Philadelphia. In 
the positions which he held with much credit 
in these two firms he made many lifelong 
friends and won the esteem of all who came 
into business or personal relation with him by 
his high sense of honor and high standard of 
integrity and of usefulness. 

Air. Altemus is president of the Clinton 
Lithia Water Distributing Company, and be- 
came so under somewhat peculiar circum- 
stances. A lover of nature, and of the strenu- 
ous outdoor active life, he was some years ago 
on a fishing trij) near Syracuse, New York. 
Here he accidentally discovered wdiat is now 
known as the Clinton Lithia Water, and realiz- 
ing at once the importance of the discovery 
set about establishing a company for placing 
the water upon the market and thus resolving 
it into a most profitable commercial asset. In 
this he was entirely successful and through his 
strenuous and judicious efforts Clinton Lithia 
Water has long since acquired a widespread 
reputation and an ever-growing sale. Mr. 
Altemus is also president of the Mineral De- 



velopment Company, is a member of the Union 
League, Philadelphia, and is closely and ac- 
tively associated wnth the Germantown Cricket 
and Philadelphia Country clubs. 

Mr. Altemus, who is keen on all field and 
other kindred sports, was one of those who 
introduced the game of polo in Philadelphia, 
and did so much for its establishment. He had 
a carload of Texas ponies brought to Phila- 
delphia, and as a result the Devon Polo Club, 
predecessor of the Bryn Mawr Club, w^as es- 
tablished and the exhiliarating sport thus 
placed on a solid foundation. Mr. Altemus' 
residence address is' 5711 Stenton Avenue, Ger- 
mantown, Philadelphia, and his business ad- 
dress, 602 Drexel I'.uilding, Philadelphia. 



VyiLLIAM C. YERKES, well and popularly 
known in Philadelphia, is president of the 
^^^ C. Yerkes Company, owning and control- 
ing a large automobile service in the Quaker 
City, with extensive premises at 1411 Spring 
Garden Street. He was born in Oxford, Penn- 
sylvania, April 7, 1891, and is the son of Ben- 
jamin F. and Janet ( Fetter) Yerkes. He re- 
ceived his education in the South, after wdiich 
he settled down in business in the Quaker 
City. Although young in years Mr. Yerkes 
has had considerable business training and ex- 
perience and the firm of which he is the head 
and moving spirit enjoys a most enviable pa- 
tronage, which promi)tness and efficiency tends 
to steadily increase. 

Mr. Yerkes is a prominent member of the 
Manufacturers' Club of Philadelphia, and is 
also a member of the Bucks County Club, the 
Chamber of Commerce of Philadelphia, the 
Automobile Trade Association and the Sales- 
manship Club. He is also an active member 
of the Masonic Order. In politics he is' a Re- 
l)ublican, Init has never held political office, 
and in religion is a Presbyterian. He was 
married June 11, 1913, to Emma Bilyers Rich- 
ards and resides at 6604 Lawton Avenue, Phil- 
adelphia. His business address is 1411 Spring 
Garden Street, Philadelphia. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



521 



JOHN I"(JL1-:Y 

T^HE Manhcini Riding Academy in German- 
town, Philadelphia, is as popular as it is 
well known, and as successful as it is jjopular. 
Located on an extensive site at 54,14 (lerman- 
town Avenue, it is spacious in outline, is thor- 
oughlv etpiipped and })ossesses all the essen- 
tial acquirements of the most modern institu- 
tion of its kind, either within the (Juaker City 
or anywhere else in the I^astern States of 
America. Competent, painstaking and cour- 
teous instructors teach the various adult and 
children's classes all that can possibly he 
taught in equestrianism and at the head of the 
institution, as proprietor, director and moving 
spirit is John Foley, the subject of this sketch 
and one of the foremost judges and trainers of 
horses in the United States, in this respect 
his experience has been vast and varied and 
what he does not know of horseflesh is not 
worth the knowledge. In every respect, and 
in every particular he is an adept at the busi- 
ness and as such is recognized all over the 
Eastern States. 

Mr. h^olev was born in Chester Count}-, 
Pennsylvania, in 1875. his father. Daniel Foley, 
being a prominent, well known and highly es- 
teemed resident of that county, lie was edu- 
cated in the public school at Mount Hope, Pa., 
and in his early days became associated with 
the care and training of trotting horses. He 
was trained to handle horses by Max lielmont, 
an adept at the business, and remained con- 
nected with the famous Belmont stables for 
many years. Beginning in a very humlde ca- 
l)acity. he steadily advanced until he ultimately 
became sole manager of the stables'. Severing 
his connection with Mr. Belmont, he spent 
some considerable time associated with Phila- 
delphia car shops and then removed to Ken- 
neth Square, Pennsylvania, to manage a hay 
press for Charles Gotwarth. Flere he estab- 
lished a record for baling hay in Chester 
County. Up to that time twenty terns were 
considered the maximum, but he beat this hol- 
low by establishing the unheard of record of 
twenty-four tons and 1075 pounds. 



Mr. I*"oley next went back to his old and 
favorite business, handling trotting horses for 
the late Judge Smith, of Philadelphia. Later 
he became associated with John F. Penrose, 
of Sixteenth and X'enango Streets, Philadel- 
])hia, conducting the entire business during Mr. 
IV'urose's absence in Colorado. In July, 1895, 
he became associated with .Manheim Riding 
Academy in Germantown, which he now con- 
ducts to the utmost satisfaction (jf his large 
and steadily growing numl)er of patrons. He 
was married in Philadelphia, April 2, 1902. to 
Agnes Carberry and has four children, three 
girls and a boy. Mis business address is 5434 
( lermantown Axt'iuie. ( iennantown, Philadel- 
I)hia. 




CA^IUEL R. MATLACK was born in 
Moorestown, Xew Jersey, ^lay 2S, 1876. 
his father being (leorge Matlack and his 
mother, before her marriage, ^lary Anna Rob- 
erts. He received his elementary education in 
a private school in his native town and later 
attended the W'esttown Boarding School, at 



522 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



W'esttown. Pennsylvania. After leaving this 
he took a thorough business course in Peirce 
Business College, Philadelphia. He then be- 
gan his life work in the paint and varnish busi- 
ness and so successful was he, even from the 
start, that he is now president of George D. 
W'etherill and Company, with an extensive 
plant at 114 North Front Street, Philadelphia, 
and of the William W aterall Company. 

Mr. Matlack was married in \\'oodbury, 
N. J., in 1904, to Marian A\'. Stokes, and has 
two children. He is a Republican in politics, 
and in religion a member of the Society of 
Friends. His residence address is 210 West 
Main Street, ^Moorestown, N. J., and his busi- 
ness address 114 North Front Street, Phila- 
delphia. 

rjRISCOLL, JAMES C. contractor and 
builder, was born in Philadelphia in 1883, 
and is the son of James C. and Mary E. 
(\Miiteman) Driscoll. Educated in the public 
schools of Philadelphia, he later attended a 
course of studies at the Drexel Institute. In 
1912 he married Alice R. Roebuck, by whom 
he has two children. 

In politics Mr. Driscoll is a Repu1)lican, 
and in religion a Protestant Episcopalian. He 
is a member of St. Albans, No. 529, Masonic 
Lodge, and has also membership in the Uni- 
versity Yacht Club and the Delaware County 
Automobile Club, his recreations tending 
towards acquatics and riding. Mr. Driscoll's 
residence is at 6117 Christian Street, Phila- 
delphia, and his business address is 1524 
Chestnut Street. 

(^HARLES A. PORTER, Jr., president of 
the Fairmount Park Transportation Com- 
pany, Philadelphia, was born in that city June 
30, 1876. His father was Charles A. Porter, a 
well-known and much-esteemed citizen, and 
his mother, before her marriage, was Roselle 
M. Chadwick, a descendant of one of the ear- 
liest and most influential families of the 
Quaker City. 

Mr. Porter was educated in the public 
schools of Philadelphia and in the Episcopal 



Academy. Besides being president of the 
Fairmount Park Company, he is a director of 
the Holmesburg Trust Company, the Penn- 
sylvania Cold Storage and Market Company, 
the Exchange Operators' Insurance Company, 




CHARLES A. PuRTER. JR. 

the Monmouth County Electric Railroad and 
the W'ire Glass' Company. He is trustee and 
treasurer of the Kensington Hospital for 
Women, and is a member of the National Geo- 
graphical Society, the American Forestry As- 
sociation and the Navy League of the United 
States, of which organization he is a life mem- 
ber. Besides these, he is a director of the 
Union League, Philadelphia, and a member of 
the Racquet Club, the Philadelphia Country 
Club, the Philadelphia Cricket Club, the Bach- 
elors' Barge Club and the Nassau Club of 
Princeton, N. J. 

Mr. Porter is a staunch Republican, but 
never held or aspired to office. In religion he 
is an Episcopalian. He was married in April, 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



523 



1900, to Florence Disston, and has one (laugh- 
ter. Miss Katherine D. Porter. llis home 
address is Springheld Avenue, St. Martins, 
Philadelphia, and his business address, 804 
Liberty ['uihbng, Pliihidelpliia. 



JOHN IlEXRY SINEX, Avell-known mer- 
chant and banker of Philadelphia, and pres- 
ident of the Garrett-P)Uchanan Company, the 
paper and twine firm, with extensive premises 
at 18 and 20 South Sixth Street, was born in 
the Quaker City December 7, 1850, and is son 
of Thomas and Catherine (Shuster) Sinex. 
He received his education at the Fewsmith 
Preparatory School, Philadelphia, and started 
a successful life career in association with 
strictly commercial business. Besides being 
president of the Garrett-Buchanan Company, 
he occupies the same position in the First 
National Bank of Beverly, N. J., the Standard 
Electrical Appliance Company, also of Bever- 
ly, and the Endowment Building and Loan 
Association of Philadelphia. 

In addition to these institutions, Mr. Sinex 
is closely and actively identified with a large 
number of others, including business associa- 
tions', public and charitable institutions, social 
and other societies and clubs. He is a member 
of the Philadelphia Association of Credit Men ; 
of the Paper Trade Association, of which he 
was formerly president; of the Philadelphia 
Bourse, of the Manufacturers' Club and of the 
Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. He is 
president of- the Free Library at Beverly, at 
which place he has a beautiful residence, and 
to the interests and welfare of which he is keen- 
ly and actively alive, and during the war with 
Germany was treasurer of the Presbyterian 
Church Building Fund of Camp Dix, Wrights- 
town, N. J. He is a prominent and active 
life member of the Academy of the Fine Arts, 
Philadelphia, and also holds membership in 
the Colonial Society of Philadelphia ; Sons of 
the Revoluti(Mi. Pennsylvania Society ; the His- 
torical Society of Pennsylvania, the Genea- 
logical Society of Pennsylvania, the National 
Geographic Society, the Swedish Colonial So- 



ciety of Pennsylvania and Society of the Order 
of Founders and Patriots (jf America. 

Mr. Sinex is closely and prominently con- 
nected with the Masonic Order. He is the old- 
est surviving ])ast master of Merchantville 
(N. J.) Lodge, No. 119, and the oldest living 
member but one, and is also a member of Phil- 
adelphia Sovereign Consistory of Thirty- 
second Degree Masons. He is also a member 
of the Beverly Yacht Club, of which he is past 
commodore; (jf the Autcjmobile Clul) of Phila- 
delphia, of the City Club and of the 'ITavel 
Club of America. In politics he is a Repub- 
lican, and in religion a Presbyterian, being 
ruling elder of the Presbyterian Church at 
Edgewater, N. J. He was married in l^dge- 
water November 6, 1886, to Mary McClellan 
McGonigle, - and has one daughter, Mrs. 
Mary Sinex Cowan. His residence address is 
"Bideau," Edgewater Park, N. J., and his busi- 
ness address, 18 South Sixth Street, Phila- 
delphia. 



P FOSTER THOMAS, known to the mem- 
bers of the Philadelphia Bar as "The Legal 
Roosevelt," was born in Philadelphia on March 
15, 1878. His father, Edward J. B. Thomas, 
LL. B., was a well-known and successful law- 
yer, who had established a widespread repu- 
tation, while his mother, before her marriage, 
was Martha A. Petrie, a member of a well 
known and highly esteemed family. 

Mr. Thomas entered the Law School of the 
University of Pennsylvania, from which, after 
a most distinguished course, he graduated 
with the degree of Bachelor of Law. He was 
shortly afterwards admitted to the Philadel- 
phia Bar and in a comparatively short time 
built up a practice and a reputation of which 
any professional man might feel proud. As a 
trial lawyer he is essentially and emphatically 
aggressive, a fact which is well indicated by 
the appellation "The Legal Roosevelt," by 
which he is generally known in the courts. 
Besides being a brilliant and successful law- 
yer, Mr. Thomas is an amateur genealogist 
and a naturalist, and in both of these branches 



524 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



is regarded as a high and experienced author- 
ity. He has also had an experience of military 
service, for in the Spanisli-Anierican War of 
1898 he served as a volunteer in Company D 
of the First Pennsylvania Infantry. 




F. FOSTER THOAIAS 

Mr. Thomas is a staunch Republican who 
has never sought nor accepted political office, 
or preferment. In religion he is an Episco- 
palian. He is a member of the Pennsylvania 
Historical Society and also holds membership 
in the Law Association of Philadelphia. He is, 
oesides, a member of the Delta Upsilon college 
fraternity, of the Young Men's Christian As- 
sociation and of the United Spanish War Vet- 
erans. His chief recreation is fly trout fishing 
and in pursuit of this owns a private camp in 
one of the mountains of the State. He was 
married in 1903 to Florence Potter and has 
one daughter, Emma Potter Thomas. His 
residence address is Pelham, Germantown, 
Philadelphia, and his office address, 1328 Arch 
Street, Philadelphia. 



JOHN MACON TORRENCE, manager of 
Torrence Brothers, cotton yarn brokers, 
was born in Gaston County, North Carolina, 
February 14, 1870, and is the son of Hugh A. 
Torrence and Susan Isabella Torrence, nee 
Ferguson. He received a liberal education in 
the public schools of his native town and sup- 
plemented this by diligent and earnest appli- 
cation to home studies. 

Reared on a cotton farm in the Tarheel 
State, Mr. Torrence's earliest associations were 
of the plaint so closely interwoven with the 
economic and industrial history of the South, 
and it was only within the natural order of 
things that, his school days ended, he should 
take up cotton work. This he did by becom- 
ing a millhand and starting upward from the 
lowest rung in his ladder of life. With indus- 
try and application, the essential features of 
his apprenticeship, he mastered all the neces- 
sary details of the business, or trade, in an un- 
usually short time, with the result that he 
was appointed first overseer and next super- 
intendent. 

At the age of thirty-two, owing to failing 
health, Air. Torrence was obliged to relinquish 
cotton work. Some time after he joined his 
brother in the manufacture and exportation to 
European countries of shuttle blocks and 
picker sticks. This he continued until the be- 
ginning of the European war in August, 1914, 
when the business was discontinued. In look- 
ing for a new line of work Mr. Torrence re- 
turned to his first love — cotton yarns — al- 
though on the selling end, but preferring the 
producing end, being by nature a manufacturer 
rather than a salesman. 

In j)olitics Mr. Torrence is an Independent, 
and in religion a Presbyterian. He has held 
no political or other office, and is connected 
with no professional or other societies, charit- 
able, educational or fraternal. He has also had 
no military record or ambition, although his 
father served in the Civil War and was 
wounded three times, two bullets on one occa- 
sion passing entirely through his head. He 
lost one eye and was twice reported dead, yet 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



he was livinj:;- in C()iU])arati\fly s^ixkI health 
whc-n this sketch of his son was written in 

vn7. 

Mr. Torrence's residence acUh-ess is 921 
Spruce Street, I'hiladelphia, and his l)nsiness 
address 1028 Drexel I'.uildino-, I'hiladelphia. 




|-J)\\ARD WlUT]:, jK. 
"PDWAKD WlilTJ-:, textile manufacturer, 
was born in Philadelphia February 7, 1879. 
His father was Edward White and his mother 
Anne B. White, nee Richardt. Is treasurer 
of the Tioga Textile Company, is a Republican 
in politics and in religion an Episcopalian. 
Was married in 1903 to Edna Hufiford and has 
two children, Edward. 4th, and Hufford. Is 
member of the Manufacturers' Club, the 
Frankford Country Club and Wool Golf Asso- 
ciation, and is also a member of the Philadel- 
l)hia Public School Alumni. Residence. 1614 
Wakeling Street, Frankford, Philadelphia. 
Business address Adams and Emerald Streets, 
Philadelphia. 



JAMES BEAN BOKIJI-.X. meml)er of the 

well-known lirm of Borden and Knobland. 
bankers and ])rokers. Philadelphia, was born in 
New jersey, January 18. 1877, and is son of 
Walter E. and Joanna R. (Wainwright) Bor- 
den, both of widely known and highly re- 
spected families. Me was educated in private 
and public schools and having received a thor- 
ough education thus he attended an evening 
course of studies in the Wharton School of 
I'^inance of the University of I'ennsylvania. 
I laving mastered all the requirements of a sub- 
stantial financial training Mr. Borden began 
his life career as an official of the National 
Rank of Mount Holly, N. J., where he re- 
mained three years. He then became asso- 
ciated with the firm of Charles A. Sims and 
Co., railroad contractors, in whose employment 
he continued for three years, gaining much 
N-aluable experience and knowledge in a wide 
and varied field of endeavor. 

Transferring his services and abilities again 
to the domain of finance he became associated 
officially with the Tradesmen's' National Bank 
(if Philadelphia, with which he remained eleven 
years. He then decided to embark in the bank- 
ing and brokerage business on his own account 
and established the firm of which he is now 
co-partner. 

Mr. Borden is a Repul)lican in politics, but 
has never held or aspired to public oftice. In 
religion he is a Baptist. He is a member of 
the Stock Exchange of Philadelphia and of the 
American Academy of Political and Social 
.Science. He is also a Mason, and his clubs 
are the Racquet of Philadelphia and the St. 
Davids Golf, of St. Davids. Pa. 

-Mr. Borden was married in Atlantic City, 
N. J., in June, 1908, to Cassandra T. Tomson. 
His residence is the Nf)rmandie, Philadelphia, 
and his business address 119 South l-\)urth 
Street, Philadeli)hia. 

IN MEMORIAM 

THO.MAS HEWLINGS WIESON, JR. 

npHE late Thomas Hewlings Wilson, Jr., 

manufacturer, son of Thomas H. Wilson 

and Sallie E. Cook, was born in Philadelphia 



526 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



.September 8, 1888, and was educated at the 
Friends' Central School and at Centenary Col- 
legiate Institute, Hackettstown, N. J. He was 
married April 20, 1911, to Marion (3vington 
Ehret ; was a Republican in politics, and in re- 
ligion a Presbyterian. After a course at the 
Philadeli)hia Textile School he entered busi- 
ness' with his father in 1905, became superin- 
tendent in 1912, and on the death of his father, 
in ]\larch, 1915, became president and manager 
of the Willcott \\'orsted Mills. Mr. Wilson 
was also president and treasurer of Thomas H. 
Wilson, Inc., and was a member of the follow- 
ing fraternities : Jerusalem Lodge, No. 506, F. 
and A. M.; Jerusalem Chapter, No. 3, R. A. 
M. ; Kadgsh Commandery, No. 29, K. T. ; 
Philadelphia Consistory, A. A. S. R., thirty- 
second degree ; Lulu Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. 
The clubs with which Mr. Wilson was connected 
are : Manufacturers', Old York Road, Country, 
Elberon Country and the Alame Club of New 
York. His chief recreation was golf and he 
resided at Lawnhurst, Fox Chase, Philadel- 
i)hia. 



CLARENCE C. HUMPHREYS 
TN THE very heart of Kensington, Philadel- 
phia, which has been aptly termed the 
"worshop of the w'orld," the huge plant of the 
Humphreys Company stands out, bold and 
-clear, amidst all the environments' of industries 
and toil, of which it forms so conspicuous a 
part. Here, that is to say at the junction of 
Front and Tusculum Streets, ornamental and 
other iron work is being fashioned and turned 
out in immense quantities, both for the gov- 
ernment of the United States and for an es- 
tablish trade that is almost of gigantic pro- 
portions'. 

At the head of this plant, as its brains, its 
moving spirit, its director and its guide, is a 
young man of thirty-five. Young he certainly 
is, as men calculate and appraise time, but in 
perfect knowledge of every detail of his ex- 
tensive business and in vast and varied exper- 
ience, he can be counted, and is counted, as a 
veteran. On June 27, 1883, this young man — 



Clarence C. Humphreys — was born in the 
Ouaker City, his father, John Humphreys, be- 
ing an old and respected resident, and his 
mother, nee Alary Morby, being also of a fam- 
ilv widelv knowm and as highlv esteemed. 




CLARENCE C. HUMPHREYS 

Acquiring the elements of his' education in 
the public schools of his native city, he en- 
tered the Drexel Institute at Philadelphia, 
from which he graduated with signal honors. 
In January, 1912, he started his life work, tak- 
ing over the business organized in 1903 by 
George R. Kurne. This was the manufacture 
of iron bolts and of ornamental iron work. 
Success crowned his' efforts from the first. 
Under his management the business prog- 
ressed rapidly, and by the year 1916 he was 
master of the situation, so far as his future 
was concerned. In that year, however, his 
first setback came, when the plant in which 
he carried on his steadily growing business 
was completely destroyed by fire. This un- 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



expected reverse ditl iu>t daunt the aspiring 
young manufacturer for a moment. ( )n the 
contrary it seemed to have stimuhited his zeal 
to make a name and a place in the world, for 
he immediately secured a new and a much 
better plant on the site in Kensington which 
he now occupies. This latter i)lant, to repeat, 
he runs along all the lines of the most mod- 
ern progress and can boast that he is the 
youngest man in the East, and probably in the 
United States, who controls and operates a 
plant of its size, style and character. 

Mr. Humphreys is essentially a man of 
purely domestic tastes and belongs to no fra- 
ternal or other associations or social or other 
clubs. He owns a cosy and attractive house 
in the country and here, in the bosom of a de- 
voted family, he spends and enjoys all his 
spare time. His wife, wdio was Chrissie M. 
Brown, is a daughter of F. M. Brown, one of 
the leading and most prominent real estate 
men in the Northeast section of Philadelphia. 
They were married in Philadelphia October 
21, 1908, and have one child, Virginia, aged 
seven. 

Mr. Humphreys is a Republican in politics, 
which never had any attractions for him, and 
in religion is a Baptist. He was for many 
years an officer in the Philadelphia Boys' 
Brigade, and this constitutes the only position 
in public or semi-public life that he has ever 
occupied. His residence address is Somerton, 
Pa., and his business address, Front and Tus- 
culum Streets, Philadelphia. 

LORRAINE JAMES SCHUMACKER 

DEGINNING his life work as a school 
teacher, and later abandoning that profes- 
sion for the more alluring one of a business 
career, Lorraine James Schumacker, the sub- 
ject of this brief sketch, has developed into a 
prosperous manufacturer and today is presi- 
dent of the xA.merican Pretzel Company, one of 
the foremost of its kind in the L'nited States. 
^Ir. Schumacker was born in Oakland, 
Pennsylvania, December 22, 1878, and is son of 
Lebbens J. and Emma J. Schumacker, both 



connected with well-known and much es- 
teemed families in the Keystone State. He 
received his earlier educatidii in the public 
schools and later attended the State Normal 
School at Clarion, I 'a., from which he entered 




LORRAINE JAMES SCHUMACKh:R 

Bucknell University, at Lewisburg, I'a. Here 
he became noted for stead}' ap])licati(jn to his 
studies, with the result that at his graduation 
he was awarded exceptionally high honors. 
After graduation he taught school, from 1898 
to 1900, in lUitler County. Pa. This somewhat 
monotonous life did not appeal to him very 
forcibly and he decided to quit it. He then 
became salesman for the oil refinery at Cleve- 
land, Ohio, and kept that position for some 
years. In 1905 he became director of sales for 
the Oakdale Bakery Company, of Philadelphia, 
and later was elected its" president. In this 
connection he acquired a vast and valuable 
experience of the baking- business and in recog- 
nition of it, and of the further and equally 



528 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



essential fact that his ideas and methods were 
of the most progressive character, he was se- 
lected as president of the American Pretzel 
Company, when that corporation was estab- 
lished in 1916. 

To Mr. Schumacker's wise and conservative 
management the present success of the cor- 
poration is mainly, if not entirely due, and as 
president also of the Alayers-Mallory Coal 
Company, with extensive yards at Tenth 
Street, near Susquehanna Avenue, Philadel- 
])hia. he has also made his mark. Mr. Schu- 
macker is a Republican in politics, and in re- 
ligion is a Baptist. He is keenly interested in 
all church work and is at present director of 
the Baptist Union. He is a member of the 
Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and is also a 
member of No. 69, Concordia Lodge. F. and 
A. M., and of Lulu Temple, of the Mystic 
Shrine. His clubs are the Manufacturers', the 
Citv and Kiwanis, all of Philadelphia. He was 
married, (Jctober 23, 1907, to Dora May Tur- 
ner, and has three children. His residence 
address is 6606 North Twelfth Street, Oak 
Lane, Philadelphia, and his office address A-2(^ 
W'idener Building, Philadelphia. 



CTAXLh:Y MILLER MARTIN stands fore- 
most in the ranks of those coal operators 
who control one of the greatest industries in 
Pennsylvania, which means control of the 
largest industry of its kind in the world. He 
is president of the Beccaria Coal and Coke 
Company, with offices in the Pennsylvania 
Building, Philadelphia, and the trade of which 
he has absolute control verges closely upon 
the enormous. 

Mr. Martin is a native Philadelphian, having 
been born in the Quaker City August 22, 1877. 
His father was Harrison M. Martin, and his 
mother, before marriage. Miss Anna I'^dton. 
His education was received solely in the pub- 
lic schools of Philadelphia, with wdiich he has 
for many years been identified commerciall}'. 
He is associated with nc; learned or technical 
organizations, but is an active and interested 
member of the Pennsvlvania Societv of Sons 



of the American Re\(jlution. He is also a 
member of the Pennsvlvania Society of New^ 
York, of Harmony Lodge, No. 52, Free and 
Accei)ted Masons, of Philadelphia, and of 
Philadelphia Consistory, No. 32. His recrea- 
tion is golf, in which he is keenly interested, 
and he is an active member of the City Club 
of Philadelphia. 




STANLEY MILLER MARTIN 

Mr. Martin is a stalwart Republican wdio 
has ne\'er held office, and is in religion a Pres- 
byterian. He was married in Philadelphia. 
April 22, 1911, to Laura \'. Peterson, and has 
no family. His residence address is 5250 
Wakefield Street, (jermantown, Philadelphia, 
and his business address, Pennsylvania Build- 
ing, Philadelphia. 



W 



TLLIAM H. LEES was born in Philadel- 
phia July 4, 1856. Son of John and Ellen 
Lees, he received his elementary education in 
the public schools, and later graduated, with 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



529 



honors, from Uryant and Stratton Collci^c. Jn 
October. 1S7S, he was married to I'.sther T. 
Laryclene, hy whom lie liad four chil(h'en, two 
sons and two (hiui^hters, of whom the sons 
onlv. W arren and Rnssel. are alive. .Mr. Lees 




THE LATE WILLL-\M 11. LEh:S 
was an extensive dealer in yarns and had l)uilt 
up a substantial business at 2426-242(S North 
Hancock street, Philadelphia. Republican in 
politics, he was in religion a Baptist, and was 
an active meml^er of Grace Baptist Church. 
Mr. Lees was much interested in building and 
loan associations, and was director of two, the 
Germantown Avenue and the Popular. He 
was also in active membership of the Artisans' 
Order of Mutual Protection. His residence 
address was 1740 Diamond Street, Philadel- 
phia. 

FREDERICK L. BAILY 
T^HAT heredity and environment have a 
marked influence in the determination of 



character there can be no doubt. Biologists 
are agreed upon the one thing and sociologists 
upon the other, and experience has almost in- 
varialdy proved the correctness of both. In 
these circumstances it comes almost as a mat- 
ter of course that the son of one of the late 
foremost residents of Philadelphia should in- 
herit, to a large extent, the business instincts 
and general characteristics of his esteemed 
fatlier. 

For over half a century the name of Joshua 
L. Baily was one to conjure with in the 
(Juaker City. Successful merchant, tireless 
civic reformer, sterling advocate of temper- 
ance and sincere and unselfish friend of the 
working man, he was unquestionably a man 
of whom his natal city, Philadelphia, should 
feel justly proud, as justly proud she decid- 
edly is. 

Frederick L. Baily, son of Joshua L., is now 
the controlling influence of the firm, and in 
business aptitude and acumen, as well as in the 
strictest integrity, he followed in the path 
blazed by his respected father. In 1856 his 
father had married Theodate Lang, daughter 
of John D. Lang, and on October 30 of the 
following year Frederick L. Baily, the subject 
of this sketch, was born, his natal place being 
Philadelphia. After receiving the rudiments 
of his education in the primary and intermedi- 
ate schools of the city he entered Haverford 
College, at Haverford, Pa., the famous educa- 
tional institution founded and maintained by 
the Quakers. 

Mr. Baily's college career predicated the 
energy and application which he brought to 
bear in the business and other transactions of 
his later and more strenuous life, and in 1S77 
he graduated with honors, acquiring the de- 
gree of Bachelor of Arts. 

Realizing that there lay in the Southern 
States of the Union a fertile field for develop- 
ment of a great industrial future, Mr. Baily 
l)ecame closely identified with them and was, 
in point of fact, a pioneer in the establishment 
and progress of the cotton mill business in 
Dixie which has since made a large develop- 
ment. 



530 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Besides l^eing a menil)er of the firm of 
Joshua L. Baily & Co., Frederick L. Daily is 
a Director of the Franklin National Bank and 
is an authority on all financial matters. A 
staunch Repulilican, he takes nothing like ac- 
tive interest in the politics of Philadelphia, and 
has never been an aspirant for office. The 
societies with which he is associated are, for 
the most part, scientific or sociological, and in- 
clude the Society of Political and Social 
Science, the New England Society of Penn- 
sylvania, and the Geographical Society. Golf 
and hunting are his favorite relaxations and 
the clubs with which he is connected are the 
University, the Merion Cricket, the Radnor 
Hunt, the Bryn Mawr Polo, the Merion Golf 
and the Orpheus. 

Air. Baily, who in religion is an Episco- 
palian, was married April, 1884, to Caroline A. 
Corlies, and has four children, three daughters 
and a son. His residence address is Ardmore. 
Pa., and his business address 1508 Walnut 
Street, Philadelphia. 



CA^NIUEL N. LEWIS, retired commission 
merchant, is one of the most interesting 
personalities in Philadelphia, and one of the 
most deservedly esteemed. The family of 
which he comes has been associated with the 
progress and development of the Quaker City 
since the days of its very infancy. One of his 
ancestors, William Lewis, a W^lsh Quaker, of 
the House of "Lewis of the Van," in Glanmor- 
ganshire, South Wales, followed William 
Penn in 1686 to his estate in America given to 
Penn by the King of England, and ever since 
that date members of the Lewis family have 
been closely and intimately identified with all 
that stands out brightest and best in the an- 
nals of Philadelphia. 

The great grandson of this W^elsh pioneer 
was Mordecai Lewis, Ijorn in Philadelphia in 
1748. He became one of the merchant princes 
of the city, an extensive ship owner and a man 
ever prominent in the public afifairs of Phila- 
delphia, as well as in the general public aft'airs 
of the colony. 



He was succeeded in l;)usiness by his sons, 
Samuel and Mordecai, under the firm name of 
M. and S. N. Lewis', wdio vastly enlarged the 
sphere of their father's commercial operations 
and became most prominent among the ship 
owners, importers and commission merchants 
of their day and generation. 

Their father having been a large importer of 
white lead, the members of the new firm de- 
cided to embark in the manufacture of the ma- 
terial and acquired a factory at Fifteenth and 
Pine Streets, Philadelphia. In a short time 
this was so enlarged as to include a whole 
block, and in 1848 it had become so much too 
valuable for mere manufacturing purposes 
that the firm removed its plant to Port Rich- 
mond, in the northeast of Philadelphia. 

Here the firm achieved a most signal suc- 
cess, not only in the production of white lead, 
Init also of the collateral materials of the paint 
trade, so that "Lewis lead" became almost a 
household word not only in Philadelphia, but 
throughout the United States. 

From 1780 until 1899 Mr. Lewis' great 
grandfather was treasurer of the Pennsylvania 
Hospital, founded by Franklin. His son, 
Joseph, succeeded him and was succeeded, in 
1826, by Samuel N. Lewis, grandfather of the 
subject of this sketch. Mr. Lewis' uncle, John 
T. Lewis, was the next occupant of the treas- 
urership, so that that important office remained 
in the Lewis family for over a century. 

Mr. Lewis' father, George T. Lewis, was 
one of the leading merchants of Philadelphia 
in his day. His business activities in the 
Quaker City embraced a period of sixty-three 
years, and he died January 17, 1900, in his 
eighty-fourth year. Outside his connection 
with the firm of John T. Lewis & Brothers 
Company, his business record embraced the 
regeneration of the old Lehigh Zinc Company, 
the founding and financing of the Pennsyl- 
vania Salt Manufacturing Company and the 
financing and development of many other ini- 
])ortant corporations. 

Of such a noted family as this came Sam- 
uel N. Lewis, the subject of this sketch, and 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



531 



his record is (|uitc tm ;i par with that of any 
of his ancestors. 




GEORGE T. LEWIS 

Born in Philadelphia, April 10, 1844, he was, 
as has been said, the son of George T. Lewis, 
and the maiden name of his mother was Sally 
F. Fisher. 

He received his education entirely in Phila- 
delphia, and for the most part, by private 
tutors. When the Civil War l^roke out he 
decided, although still a youth, to do his' part 
for the maintenance of the Union. He was 
elected an associate meml^er of Company A, 
First Regiment (Gray) Reserve Brigade 
Alilitia of Pennsylvania in 1861, and in ^lay, 
1862, served as a private when companies A 
and C were in service suppressing riots in 
Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. 

In the summer of 1862, at the age of eight- 
een, he recruited Company E, 1 18th Regiment 
Pennsylvania Volunteers, at the Girard House, 



Ninth and Chestnut Streets, i'hiladelphia, and 
bore all the expenses of raising the company, 
lie was mustered in as Second Lieutenant on 
.\ugust 20, 1862, and was inunediately sent to 
the front, h'xactly one month later, that is to 
say on September 20, he was severely wounded 
in the thigh, at the battle of Shepherdstown, 
W. \'a. In recognition of his bravery on that 
occasion he received a ccjmmission as b'irst 
Lieutenant in Company F, but was not mus- 
tered in under that rank until March 9, 1863. 
Later he was detailed as acting aide-de-camp 
on the staff of General Joseph Hayes, of the 
First Brigade, First Division. I^fl^i Corps of 
the Army of the Potomac. His recent wounds 
and general ill health began to tell upon his 
constitution at this time and after a brief serv- 
ice on General Hayes' staff he was reluctantly 
oliliged to resign his commission. 

As soon as his strength permitted he went 
to Europe in search of health and returned in 
1865. much improved. The war was then over, 
and there being no fields for the application of 
his military zeal and enthusiasm he entered the 
office of John T. Lewis & Brothers, where he 
subsequently became a partner in the firm and 
continued so until 1890. He served on the 
staffs of Generals Charles M. Prevost and John 
P. Bankson, commanding First Division of the 
National Guard of Pennsylvania, as aide-de- 
camp with the rank of Major, from January, 
1868. until July 27. 1876, when he resigned and 
was honorably discharged. 

In 1890 he l)ecame a partner in the firm of 
George T. Lewis & Sons and continued so un- 
til 1900. when the firm was dissolved on the 
death of the senior meml)er of it. 

He was executor and trustee of his father's 
and mother's estates until their closing in 1914, 
since which time he has devoted himself ex- 
clusivelv to his strictly personal affairs, be- 
loved and esteemed by all who know him. 

Mr. Lewis is a staunch Republican in poli- 
tics and in religion is an Episcopalian. 

1 le is a member of the Loyal Legion of the 
United States and also a member of the Phila- 
delphia Club and the Racquet Club. In 1876 



532 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



he married Ida C. P. Lewis, now deceased, 
daughter of Dr. E. J. Lewis, of Philadelphia. 
His office address is 260 Drexel Building, Fifth 
and Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. 




HARRY D. REESE 

A Al()N(iST the leading provision merchants 
of Philadelphia Harry D. Reese occupies a 
deservedly high place. Conducting an exten- 
sive and highly successful business at 1203 Fil- 
bert Street, at about the junction where the 
Farmers' Market and the Twelfth Street Mar- 
ket met in the olden days, he is almost as well 
known as the Reading Terminal itself, and his 
patrons are legion. 

Mr. Reese is a product of Chester County, 
Pennsylvania, where he was 1)orn December 
5, 1861. His father, also well known and 
highly esteemed, was Frank Reese, and his 
mother, before her marriage, Lydia Pyle. He 
w^as educated in the public schools of his native 
city and in early life started the business ca- 
reer in which he has been so signallv success- 



ful. He is a member of the Manufacturers' 
Club of Philadel])hia, and also holds member- 
ship in the Philadelphia Country Club and in 
the Seaview Golf Club. In politics he is a Re- 
publican who is keenly interested in all that 
affects the welfare of his adopted city, and in 
religion is a Protestant Episcopalian. He is a 
Thirty-second Degree Alason and holds mem- 
l)ership in the lUue Lodge Chapter of Phila- 
deli)hia, in the Knights Templar Order and in 
the Order of Lulu Shrine. 

Mr. Reese w'as married in Philadelphia to 
Carrie E. Kitt and has one son, Frank K. 
Reese. His residence address is Lenox i\part- 
ments, Thirteenth and Spruce Streets, Phila- 
delphia, and his business address, 1203 Filbert 
Street, IMiiladelphia. 



DUBY ROSS VALE is one of the foremost 
lawyers in the City of Philadelphia, and 
of his singular ability his standard books on 
legal topics bear an imperishable imprint and 
afford indisputable evidence. As an author he 
is widely known in professional circles in the 
city and state, and as a practicing lawyer of 
much experience and acumen he has won a 
reputation exceptionally high and exception- 
ally widespread. 

Mr. Vale's grandfather, father, uncle, 
brother, and many paternal and maternal rela- 
tives were members of the legal profession. 
His father, Joseph Griffith Vale, who died in 
1902, at the age of sixty-five, was a distin- 
guished author and orator. Of Quaker ances- 
try, he was born in York County, Pennsylva- 
nia, read law at Harrisburg. and for thirty 
years was the leading lawyer in Cumberland 
County. He was the author of many books 
describing the Army of the Cumberland during 
the Civil War, and as a most eloquent and 
convincing speaker was selected to deliver the 
dedicatory address at the unveiling of the 
monument to Mollie Pitcher, at Carlisle, Penn- 
sylvania, and also^the State oration at the dedi- 
cation of the Chickamauga battlefield when it 
was converted into a National Cemetery. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



)33 



He served in titty-two engagements in the 
Civil War was wonnded three times. an<l was 
taken prisoner in upper (ieorgia. serxing a 
period of imprisonment at Tdorencc. South 
Carolina. During the Spanish-American W^ar 
he raised a regiment in the Schuylkill and 
Cumberland \'alleys of Pennsylvania. When 
the Republican party was organized he was 
one of its warmest adherents, but later joined 
the Greenback party, by wdiich he was nomi- 
nated to the \'ice Presidency and also for 
Congress. 

Ruby \'ale was born in Carlisle. Pennsylva- 
nia, October 19, 1874. Pie received his elemen- 
tary education in the public schools of his 
native city, and later attended the Dickinson 
Preparatory School, also of Carlisle, from 
which he graduated in 1892. He then entered 
Dickinson College, and after a brilliant course 
he graduated, with the degree of Bachelor of 
Philosophy, in 1896. Three years later that 
institution conferred upon him the honorary 
degree of Master of Arts. In that year he 
also completed a course at the Dickinson Col- 
lege of Law. winning the high and much-cov- 
eted degree of Bachelor of Law\ In 1910 the 
degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon 
him, he being the youngest man to wdiich the 
college has e\'er extended that honor. 

After leaving college Mr. Vale taught clas- 
sics for some time in the Milford Academy, 
Milford, Delaware. He then read law under 
the direction of his father and also with his 
uncle, Judge Josiah M. Vale, of Washington, 
District of Columbia, and with Honorable F. 
E. Beltzhoover. of Carlisle. He was then ad- 
mitted to the Bar, and, selecting Philadelphia 
as the field of his life effort, has been identified 
with that city ever since. 

In 1901 he published, in two volumes, "Ele- 
mentary Principles of Pennsylvania Law," 
which secured such an extensive sale that a 
second edition was brought out in 1902, and 
a subsequent edition in 1902. In that year 
he indexed and arranged "the Pennsylvania 
Law of Negotiable Instruments" and was 
annotator of "Rules of the Superior Court of 
Pennsylvania." In 1903 lie com])iled "\'ale's 



Supi)lenient to I '.rightly 's Digest of Pennsylva- 
nia Decisions," and in 1907 was the compiler 
<if "Vale's Digest of Pennsylvania Decisions," 
a monumental work in ten volumes. All these 
are of the utmost \alue from a legal stand- 
point, while the literary matter is of a superior 
• irder and stamps Mr. Vale as a graceful and 
incisive interpreter of the Ivnglish language. 
They also very forcibly illustrate the patience, 
ai)plication and superior reasoning faculties of 
the writer and are amongst the most valuable 
contributions to the State's legal literature 
within many generations. 

Mr. Vale is a nieml)er of the Phi l\ap])a Psi 
and the Theta Nu Upsilon college fraternities, 
and is also connected with the Masonic Lodge 
at Milford, Delaware. He is also a member of 
the Law ^Association and Law^ Academy of 
Philadelphia, the American and Pennsylvania 
Bar Association, the American Academy of 
Political and Social Science and the American 
Geographical Society. He also holds member- 
ship in the Union League and the Racquet and 
Pen and Pencil Clubs of Philadelphia. 

In Politics he is a staunch Republican. He 
was a delegate to the Republican National 
Convention in Chicago in 1908 and 1912, and 
during a deadlock in the Delaware Legislature, 
on the question of the United States Senator- 
ship, he received many complimentary votes, 
although not a candidate for the position. 

He w'as married in Milford, Delaware, to 
Maria Elizabeth Williams, and they have two 
children, Marie Elizabeth Williams, born in 
1901, and Grace, born in 1903. 



\\'ALTER WHETSTONE 

DORN of the pure and sturdy Quaker stock 
that has, since the day of W'illiam Penn, 
identified itself A\itli the growth and develop- 
ment of Philadel])liia, and has laid its lasting 
ini])rint on the "City of Brotherly Love," 
\\"alter ^^^hetstone is today the embodiment 
of personal integrity and the architect of a 
successful business, built upon the foundation 
of thorough and absolute public confidence. 



534 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Son of Joseph L. R. Whetstone, who was 
chief of the firm of Whetstone & Co.. jobbers, 
wrought-iron pipe and fittings, 911 Filbert 
Street, and of EHzabeth Bray, who was born 
in Philadelphia April 12. 1876, and educated at 
the Friends' Central High School. Having 
purchased the business from his father, he 
devoted himself exclusively to it until 1916, 
when he sold it to Edgar W. Koons. During 
his active management of the firm he built the 
Consumers' Gas Company at Atlantic City, 
the Key West Gas Company and the Gas Com- 
pany at San Juan, Porto Rico — works which 
stand as enduring monuments to his ability. 

In 1915 Mr. Whetstone entered the inves- 
ment security Intsiness. with ofiices at the 
\\''idener Building. Besides this he is secre- 
tary and treasurer of the Hyper Humus Com- 
pany and president of four gas companies in 
North Carolina, so that the business which he 
is identified with and in a large measure con- 
trols is as varied as it is extensive and 
important. 

Mr. Whetstone is connected with many 
clubs, including the Union League, the Meri- 
dian Club, the City Club, the Art Club and the 
Boys' Club of A\'ayne. He is also associated 
with the Psi Upsilon Fraternity of the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania, and with the Boy Scouts 
of America. His recreation is mainly confined 
to walking, and his residence is at W^ayne, Pa. 
In politics he is a staunch Republican, but 
never sought or held public oftice. preferring 
strict attention to his ordinary business and 
the privacy and enjoyment of domestic life. 

Mr. Whetstone was married at Lake 
Mahapae. X. Y.. on March 20. 1902, to Susie 
Hiltsmith, and has six children, five of whont 
are bovs. 



BURTON ETHERINGTON 

npHE life-story of Burton Etherington is a 
striking record of success and achievement 
- — a record of pluck and perseverance and a 
notable example of the fact that integrity, 
ability and trustworthiness are almost invari- 
ably sure of at least a measure of recognition 



and certain of at least a measure of reward. 
From errand l)ny in the enij)loyment of the 
firm in which his career of life endeavor be- 
gun to the ])Osition of an honored partner in 




BURTON ETHERINGTON 

that firm, is Mr. Etherington's life-record in so 
many words, and it tells the tale so emphat- 
icalh- and so well that comment is superfluous 
and the mere recital of details unnecessary. 
Mr. luherington, to put it plainly and l)riefly, 
l)egan his ]:)usiness career in circumstances 
that were the very reverse of auspicious ; he 
"made good," as the popular saying has it. and 
he now fills a position and enjoys a status and 
reputation of which any citizen of Philadel- 
phia or any man outside its limits, should and 
would feel justly and laudably proud. 

Mr. Etherington was born in Maryland, 
May 28. 1873, and educated first in the public 
schools of Frederictown and later on in a 
public school in Philadelphia, to which city he 
had come early in life. He also attended a 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



535 



night course in 'reni])lc University, one of the 
best known and most popuhir schcjlastic in- 
stitutions in the Quaker City. in 1890 he 
started his Hfe career, obtaininp^ employment 
with the h'ranklin I )'( )Her Company, the well- 
known cotton yarn merchants of Philadelphia. 
Here he was afforded the opjiortunity of "mak- 
ing good," to repeat the popular saying, and 
he did. Step by step he climbed the ladder of 
success until he was given the exacting and 
fesponsil)le position of salesman. In that posi- 
tion his business intuition and methods be- 
came even more pronounced and apparent, 
with the result that in 1900 he was given an 
interest in the steadily growing business, and 
six vears later admitted into partnershi]), in 
which he is now as active as he is manifestly 
successful. In 1917 and 1918 — that is to say 
for two terms — he was president of the Yarn 
.Merchants' Association, an office he filled with 
ability, judgment and tact. 

During the war between the United States 
and Germany ]\Ir. Etherington's invaluable 
services were availed of by the government. 
He w^as appointed member of the cotton goods 
section of the \\'ar Industries Board and was 
also chief of the cotton yarn branches of the 
"C" and "E" divisions of the army Quarter- 
master's Department. In both capacities he 
worked earnestly and well and his work was 
much appreciated by the department. 

Mr. luherington is a member of the Union 
League of Philadelphia, of the Philadelphia 
Countrv Club, of the Germantown Cricket 
Club and of the Stenton Country Club. In 
politics he is a Republican, and in religion a 
Presbyterian. He was married in Conastota. 
New York. May 6, 1906, to Edith Hubbard, 
and has two sons. His residence address is 
6425 W'avne Avenue, (iermantown. Philadel- 
phia, and his business address, 300 Chestnut 
Street. F'hiladelphia. 



CLARENCE P. WYNNE 
POREMOST in the ranks of the energetic, 
enterprising and resourceful men who have 
made Philadelphia the leading manufacturing 



city of the United ."^tates is Clarence P 
\\'_\nne, the subject of this sketch. 




CLARENCE P. \\YNXI-: 

Like most of these men. he was born in the 
Quaker City, and with the Quaker City his 
active and successful business life has been 
associated and identified. 

The date of Mr. Wynne's birth is October 
13. 1876. and he is the son of Thomas and 
Sarah L. (Millar) Wynne, each of whom came 
of well-known American Colonial families. 

Receiving his elementary education in the 
pul)lic schools of his nati\'e cit}-, he later be- 
came a student at the Central High School, 
from which he graduated in 1896, with the 
degree of 1 bachelor of Science. Two years 
later he entered the real estate and insurance 
business. In this he continued for sixteen 
3-ears. By close ai)plication to business, strict 
probity and sympathetic interest in the affairs 
of his patrons, he acquired a most enviable 
reputation, and has the respect and confidence 



536 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



of all with whom he came into business rela- 
tions. 

In 1914 Mr. \\'ynne became interested in 
manufacturing, and, cjuitting the real estate 
business', de\'oted himself exclusively to it. He 
is now a member of the board of directors and 
secretary of the Quaker Kola Company, with 
an extensive ])lant on Callowhill Street ; is 
vice president, treasurer and general manager 
of the Munyon Homeopathic Home Remedy 
Company, with a large establishment at Fifty- 
fourth Street and Columbia Avenue, and is 
vice president of the Qua Ko Bottling Com- 
pany, of Easton, Pa. In each of these enter- 
prises he is keenly interested, and to his ability, 
energy and business capacity the success of 
each is largely, if not mainly, due. 

Mr. Wynne is a member of the American 
Academy of Political and Social Science, and 
also holds membership in the Sons of the 
American Revolution, of which he is president 
of the Philadelphia Chapter. 

He is a thirty-second degree Mason, and is 
a member of Lu Lu Temple, Nobles of the 
Mystic Shrine, of which he is a member of the 
mounted guards, and of the Philadelphia 
Chamber of Commerce. 

His clubs are the Aero of America, of which 
he was a former governor; the Aero of Penn- 
sylvania, of which he was a former president 
and is now a member of the board of directors, 
and the Travel Club of America. 

He is a Republican in politics, and was mar- 
ried twice. His first wife, now dead and by 
whom he had no children, was' Mary Gray 
John, and his second, to whom he was married 
kay 14, 1909, was Mrs. Elizabeth Graham, 
widow, who had two daughters, Harriet P. and 
Gladys T. Graham-Wynne. 

His residence address is the Powelton 
Apartments, Thirty-fifth Street and Powelton 
Avenue, Philadelphia, and his business ad- 
dress. Fifty-fourth Street and Columbia Ave- 
nue, Philadelphia. 

£DWIN M. ABBOTT, attorney and coun- 

sellor-at-law, was born in Philadelphia, 

June 4, 1877, and is the son of Theodore and 



Alvina Abbott. He received his preliminary 
education in the public schools of that city and 
the Central High School. He then entered the 
Law School of the University of Pennsylvania 




EDWTN M. ABBOTT 

and after a l)rilliant course of study left his 
alma mater in 1896 with the degree of Bach- 
elor of Law. Immediately after his graduation 
he was admitted to the l)ar and enjoys' the 
unique distinction of being the youngest law- 
yer ever so admitted anywhere, for his age 
then was but three da_vs over nineteen. 

^Ir. Abbott has had a large and varied law 
experience since then, and his practice has kept 
pace with that experience. His known, in 
criminal cases, as a "lawyer's lawyer," as he 
represents' other attorneys in looking after 
their criminal practice, for in criminal law he 
has few equals, as is unmistakably attested by 
the fact that in sixty-three homicide cases with 
which he has been identified up to the present 
onlv two convictions and executions' were re- 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



537 



ct)rcletl. lie has been counsel in nian\- impor- 
tant cases (leterniinino- the present criminal 
law and re])resente(l the United Kusiness 
Men's Associaticjn and the L"ommnters'' Asso- 
ciation, as chief counsel, in a legal light last- 
ing two years, against a raise in railrcxid pas- 
sengers' fares. He now rejjresents, and has 
so represented for years, a nimiher of large 
and important corporations', among which are 
included Sellers and Company, Newton Ma- 
chine Tool Works. Schntte-Koerting Com- 
l)any, Louis Walther Alanufacturing C(jmpany, 
Harrison Son's Company, Bement-Miles Com- 
])any, Da\-id II. Schuyler and Sons, A. Theo. 
Abbott and Company, Theo. H. Wilson. Inc., 
and others. 

Mr. Abbott was a member of the Pennsvl- 
vania Legislature 1911-12, and is chairman of 
the Pennsylvania State Commission on Re- 
vision and Amendment of the I'enal Laws, 
1913-15, to which he was appointed by Gover- 
nor Tener, and the present commission ap- 
])ointed by Governor llrumbaugh, to report on 
a new penal code to the next Legislature. 

An independent Republican in politics, he 
has held no pul:)lic office, l)Ut was twice nomi- 
nated for judge of the ccnirt of Common Pleas. 
He has written, and has had published, many 
legal articles of exceptional merit and is the 
author of over 300 poems and nine songs. 

Mr. Abbott is president of the ( )ak Lant 
Park Improvement Association, is chairman oi 
the law committee and a director of the L^nited 
Business I^^len's ^Association, and is a member 
of the committee on judicial reform of the 
Law Association of Philadelphia. lie is sec- 
retary of the American Institute on Criminal 
Law and Criminology, and a member of the 
American Academy of Political and Social 
Science and of the Civil Ser\ice Reform Asso- 
ciation and is president of the United Imjirove- 
ment Association of the l-'orty-second W ard. 
In addition to these important offices he is 
historian of the \'eteran Athletes and of the 
Century Veterans, is a Thirty-second Degree 
Mason and holds membership in the Lulu 
Temple (A. A. O. N. AI. S.), the Malta, the 
Artisans, the University of Pennsylvania 



.\luinni Society, the C. 11. S. .\lunmi Society, 
the Law Association and the Law .\cademv. 

llis clubs are the Manufacturers', Sagamore, 
Old Colony, Lawyers', ITberon Tennis, A'ar- 
sity. Athletic. Strollers, Cham])er of Com- 
merce and Lulu Country Club. 

Mr. Al)b()tt was married November, 1*X)5, to 
I'dorence 11. Wilson, 1)\- whi>m he has two chil- 
dren, Emilie P. and T. 11. Wilson .\bl)ott. His 
residence address is 70<S Sixty-fourth Avenue, 
( )ak Lane Park, l'hilacU'l])hia, and his office 
address is 102S Land Title I'.uihling. I'hiladel- 
])hia. 




pllARLh:S I". BOCII. MANN, senior partner 
and president of the well-known hrm of 
1'. A. Pochmann and Comi)any, manufacturers 
of textile novelties, cloakings and suitings, 
with extensive mills and premises at Second 
and Cambria Streets, Philadelphia, and with 
large salesrooms, at 254 Fourth Avenue, 
New York, was born in New York City on 
September 19, 1865, and is the son of F. A. 



538 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Bochmann. He received a liberal education in 
the public schools of his native city and this 
was supplemented by a two years' course in 
Europe. 

Settling down to commercial life in Phila- 
delphia, he became associated with the textile 
industry, and having mastered all its details, 
he established in lcS89 the firm of F. A. Boch- 
mann and Company, of which he is now the 
head. The career of this firm, almost from the 
start, has been signally successful, and today 
its record for integrity, good business methods 
and fair dealing cannot be cjuestioned. 

All the details of the firm's business are 
mider the immediate supervision of Mr. Boch- 
mann, who is essentially a keen and capable 
business man whose knowledge is based on 
long and varied experience in commercial life. 

Mr. Bochmann is a Republican in politics 
and in religion a Protestant Episcopalian. He 
has never closely identified himself with poli- 
tical afii"airs. and has never been a candidate 
for office. 

AVhile in New York he served in the Sev- 
enth Regiment, National Guard, of that city. 

Mr. Bochmann is retiring rather than assert- 
ive by nature, and his club membership is con- 
fined to the Lotos Club of New York, and the 
Union League, Art, Raccjuet and Country 
cluljs of Philadelphia. 

He was married in Ajiril, 1894, to Jean 
Eisher, and has one daughter, hZsther Jean. 
His residence address is 135 South Eighteenth 
Street, Philadelphia, and his business address 
Second and Cambria Streets, Philadelphia. 



iN MEMORIAM 

A NDREW F. HAMMOND, the late Super- 
intendent of Supplies in the Board of 
Education, Philadelphia, was regarded, in a 
sense, as part of the educational system of the 
Quaker City. Eor nearly half a century he 
was connected with it in various capacities 
and was as much interested in his work today 
as he was when, in 1868, he began his life 
work as a comparatively humble clerk in the 
department. 



Mr. Hammond was l)orn in Philadelphia, 
December 18, 1847. his father being William 
Hammond and his mother, before her mar- 
riage, Catherine Ereel)orn. Educated in the 




ANDRIAX' E. HAMMOND 

public schools, elementary and high, he re- 
cei^■ed a sound scholastic training and was well 
equii)ped for the ])osition of clerk to the Board 
of Education, which he secured in 1868. Eor 
five years he continued in this capacity, and in 
1875 was promoted to assistant secretary, a 
position he held until June, 1898. In that year 
his experience and worth were further recog- 
nized by his appointment to the somewhat 
onerous and always responsible position of 
secretary. Erom 1898 until January, 1906, he 
continued his secretarial work and in the latter 
year was elevated to the even more responsible 
ofiice of Superintendent of Supplies. In all 
these long and varied years he made many 
friends and is today one of the most respected 
and esteemed veterans of the old regime. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



5,V) 



Mr. Ilanimond was a stauncli Rt'i)ublicaii in tcrcd the stock broking business, establishing 
politics and a Trotestant Kpiscopahan in reH- what afterwards became the prominent and 
oi,.n. He never lield political office, simply successful tirm of Barnes and Lofland. This 
because he never aspired to any, but had al- company was selected to sell, under foreclos- 
ways taken a keen interest in the political 
topics of his day and generation, lie was a 
member of the Masonic fraternity and of the 
( )dd Fellows, and in each of those societies 
he was somewhat of a connecting link between 
the past and the present. Yachting was his 
peculiar hobby, and he was a member of the 
rhiladelphia Yacht Club. 

Mr. Hammond was married, in 1872, to 
Ellen S. Lyle, by whom he had three children, 
only one of whom is living. His late address 
was 1C)04 Wharton Street. 



UAROLD R. SHIRLEY was born in Chi- 
cago on August 23, 1879, and is the son of 
Thomas Shirley and Carolyn Shirley, nee Ras- 
bon. He received his primary education in the 
public schools of that city and later graduated 
from a grammar school. Coming to Phila- 
delphia at an early age, he started his business 
career as wrapper boy in the dry goods store 
of Wanamaker and Brown, Sixth and ^Market 
Streets. After a business training in other lines 
he became connected with the yarn trade of 
Philadelphia in 1898 and in 1908 started busi- 
ness for himself as worsted yarn broker. 

Mr. Shirley is a member of the Masonic 
Drder and his clubs are the Manufacturers' of 
Philadelphia and the Undine Barge. His 
recreations are music and golf. He is a Re- 
publican in politics, and in religion a Presby- 
terian. His home address is Delmar Apart- 
ments, dermantown, Philadelphia, and his 
business address, 242 Chestnut Street, Phila- 
del|)hia. 



'T ELLIS BARNES, stock and bond broker 
and auctioneer, was born in IMiiladcliihia, 
July 7, 1873, and is the son of J. Harbeson 
Barnes and Clara S. (Smith) Barnes. The 
public schools of Philadelphia afiforded him a 
liberal education, and after some vears he en- 




T. ELLIS BARNES 

ure. the Philadel])h.ia and Reading Railroad 
and has been identified with a large number of 
sales of relatively equal impdrtance. For a 
number of years Mr. Barnes has been auction- 
eer for the high sheriff of Philadelphia, and 
also for the Department of Docks and 
Wharves. 

Mr. Barnes is' a director of the Union League, 
Philadelphia, and is also a member of the Rac- 
quet Club, the ]Miiladel])hia Country Clul), the 
Bachelors' Barge ("lub and the ^legantic Fish 
and Game Club. In religion he is an Episco- 
])alian. he has been a life-long Republican, but 
has never sought public office at the hands of 
his party. His residence address is the L'nion 
League, Philadelphia, and his business ad- 
dress, 147 South Fourth Street. Philadelphia. 



540 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




DR. CHARLl' 

r\R. CHARLl^.S JAMES JOXRS, the widely 
known physician and authdr, was l)orn in 
Philadelphia March 25. 1S67. His father, 
Charles Henry Jones, was a popular and much 
esteemed resident of the Ouaker City, and his 
mother was, before her marriage, Anna \i. 
Hayes. The private and ])ul)lic schools of his 
native city afiforded Dr. Jones his' elementary 
and intermediate education, and in due course 
he entered the University of Pennsylvania as 
a medical student. 

After the usual course of study, in which 
strict application and the determination to 
master its every detail were the marked fea- 
tures, he graduated with the degrees of M. D. 
and A. M. and to those was later added the 
degree of LL. D., bv Villanova College. 



:S J. J(JNES 

After graduating from the Medical Depart- 
ment of the University, in 1S89, Dr. Jones 
served as intern physician in the Philadelphia 
( ieneral Hospital and then went abroad to 
take a course of post graduate studies. These' 
included research and practical work in the 
famous Universities of Heidelberg, Berlin and 
Leipzig, in Germany, and also in the leading 
medical schools and universities of Paris, and 
Moorfield's and Cuy's hospitals in London. 

Lii)on his return, and before he entered on 
and established the extensive private practice 
which he now^ enjoys, Dr. Jones served on the 
out-patient staff of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania and on the general staff of St. Mary's, 
St. Joseph's, St. Vincent's and the Wills Eye 
hospitals in Philadelphia. At present he is 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



541 



chief ophthalmologist to St. Joseph's Hospital 
and consulting ophthalmologist to St. Vin- 
cent's Maternity Hospital and the House of 
the Good Shepherd. 

Dr. Tones has been a ccjnstant contributor to 
medical literature and, in conjunction with the 
late Professor lliarles .\. ( )li\-er. was a fre- 
(|uent contributor to that of ophthalmology, 
lie was also one of the original owners and 
advocates of the .\udible hdectric lUock Signal 
System, which is now used by almost all the 
trunk lines in the United States. 

The professional fraternity and other socie- 
ties and clubs with which Dr. Jones is asso- 
ciated are many and various. He is a mend:)er 
of the County Medical Society of Philadelphia, 
the State Medical Society, the American Medi- 
cal Association, and the Wills Eye Hospital, 
and is also a Fellow of the College of Phy- 
sicians. Philadelphia. 

The fraternal associations with which he is 
connected, as member, are the Philadelphia 
^Medical, the Alumni of the University of 
Pennsylvania Medical Department, and the 
General Alumni Society of the University. 
He is a member of the Militant Order of the 
Loyal Legion of the United States, and his 
clubs include the Physicians', the Motor, the 
University, the Bryn Mawr Polo, the Merion 
Cricket, the Merion Golf of Haverford, and the 
Union League of Philadelphia. In addition to 
all these he acts as trustee of several large, 
private estates. 

Dr. Jones is a Republican in politics and in 
religion a Catholic. He was married in Jan- 
uary, 1897, to Anna Bernardine Corr, and has 
five children, three sons and two daughters. 

Llis residence address is the Beeches, Bryn 
Mawr, Pa., and his office address 1507 Locust 
Street, Philadelphia. 

LEWIS THOYER KNISKERN 

'T^HE Chester Shipbuilding Company, at 
Chester, Pennsylvania, is one of the largest 
plants of its kind in the United States, and one 
of the best equipped. During the war with 
Germany in 1917-18 it did excellent work, and 
the product of its yards was equal, if not su- 



perior, lo that of any other shipbuilding plant 
in the world. ( )f such a great and enterpris- 
ing cori)orati(jn Lewis Thoyer Kniskern is 
general manager, and it g(jes witlvnit saving 




LEAVIS THOYER KNlSKh-RX 

that a major part of the success achieved by 
the company during the strenuous and trying 
period of the war was due to his ability, judg- 
ment, energy and initiative. In this respect he 
was the right man in the right place and as 
such was recognized and esteemed not only 
by members of the company but by every 
employee within its extensive jurisdiction. 

Mr. Kniskern is by profession a civil engi- 
neer, and one of the foremost in that line of 
endeavor in the country. He has been asso- 
ciated with prominent building and other con- 
struction operations in many parts of the 
United States, from the eastern seaboard to the 
Pacific slope, and each bears the imprint of his 
genius. He was born in Hastings. Michigan. 
June 11, 1887, and is the son of Albert Decatur 



542 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



and Estelle (Wheeler) Kniskern. His father 
is a colonel in the United States army and 
depot quartermaster in Chicago, and he has a 
brother who is captain in the engineer corps. 
Mr. Kniskern was literally brought up in the 
army and the discipline which obtains in it 
contributed, in a large measure, tow^ards the 
formation of his character, the expansion of 
his views and the handling of men and the 
executive ability for which he is so remark- 
able. Receiving his early education in the 
public schools, he entered the University of 
Michigan, from which he graduated in 1910, 
with the degree of Bachelor of Civil Engi- 
neering. 

Immediately on graduation he started the 
practical end of his profession. He became a 
draftsman at the Judson Iron Works, at Oak- 
land, California, and continued in the employ- 
ment of the company until 1911. That year 
he entered the employment of Thompson 
Starrett Company, of New York, where he 
learned all the details of practical building 
construction. Beginning as timekeeper in 1911 
he went through all grades of promotion up to 
assistant general superintendent in New York, 
which latter position of responsibility and 
trust he secured in 1915. During all the inter- 
vening time he applied himself earnestly and 
diligently to acquiring a thorough knowledge 
of building and other construction and the 
knowledge thus acquired he put into practical 
effect later on in life, when left to his own 
resources and dependent upon his own judg- 
ment and ability. So thoroughly was that 
judgment and that ability recognized and ap- 
preciated by the Thompson Starrett Company 
that in 1914 they sent him to Chile, South 
America, in charge of the sole work of direc- 
ting and supervising the erection of a $15,- 
000,000 copper refinery. Here he spent the 
year 1914 and returning to New York the fol- 
lowing year became superintendent of the con- 
struction of the Equitable building, the laro-est 
office building in the world. 

From 1915 to 1917 Mr. Kniskern was en- 
gaged in private contracting work in Chicago, 
under the name of the Kniskern Company, of 



which he w^as the founder and moving spirit, 
and of which also he still continues president. 
In 1917 he was earnestly requested by the 
Chester Shipbuilding Company to take charge 
of its construction work. The company evi- 
dently realized that no better man for such 
work could be secured and later on had ample 
reasons to congratulate itself, both upon 
his selection for the arduous and gigantic un- 
dertaking, his acceptance of the office and the 
manner in which he executed the vast project 
jilaced unreservedly in his hands. This work 
Mr. Kniskern handled effectually until Oc- 
tober, 1917, when he w^as appointed assistant 
general manager of the great concern. This 
position he held for about a year, when he was 
further promoted to that of general manager, 
an office which he still fills wdth added credit 
to himself and to the entire satisfaction of the 
government authorities, who took charge of 
the extensive plant shortly after the declara- 
tion of war against Germany. 

Besides being president of the Kniskern 
Company of Chicago, and general manager of 
the Chester Shipbuilding Company, Mr. 
Kniskern is vice-president and director of the 
Chester Emergency Housing Corporation. He 
is an associate member of the American So- 
cietv of Civil Engineers and is also a member 
of the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity. His chief 
recreation is golf, and his' clubs are the Spring 
Haven Country and the Chester. Mr. Knis- 
kern has traveled extensively, covering the 
United States, Japan, China, the Philippines, 
the West Indies, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, the Ar- 
gentine, Brazil and Uruguay. In each of 
these countries he made himself almost thor- 
oughly familiar with existing conditions, and 
the economic and other needs of each, so that 
he can be, and is generally regarded as an au- 
thority on such far-reaching questions. 

Mr. Kniskern was married in Ludington, 
Michigan, October 11, 1916, to \'era Alex- 
andra Culver, and has one daughter, Vera 
Jean, born August 16. 1918. He is a Repub- 
lican in ])olitics and in religion a Methodist 
F^piscopalian. His residence address is 
Swarthmore, Pa., and his business address 
Chester Shipbuilding Company, Finance 
Building. Philadelphia. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



543 




L. J. SCHUMAKKK 
''PO HA\'E organized a corporation whose 
capital extends into the niilHons and whose 
products find a market in every city, town, 
village and hamlet in the United States is, in 
itself, an achievement of which few men can 
boast. 

But while this has been done by L. J. Schu- 
maker, the subject of this sketch, there are 
other fields of endeavor in which he stands out 
conspicuously as a self-made man whose initial 
capital was brains and whose life work has 
been determined by, and Iniilt upon, a cease- 
less energy, a sound and unerring judgment 
and an initiative and determination that met 
obstacles only to overcome them, and in the 
victorv to assert his will power and individ- 
ualism. 

Mr. Schumaker was born in ( )akland, Penn- 
sylvania, in December, 1878. His father, who 
came of the good old "Pennsylvania Dutch" 
stock, was L. J. Schumaker, and his mother, 
Emma F. Coulter, also a member of an old 
and much respected family. 



lie received the elementary part of his edu- 
cation in the public schools of Oakland, and 
later attended the State Normal School at 
Clarion, Clarion County, Pa.; ivum thence he 
wiMit to Pucknell I'niversity, and his course 
was marked by zeal, earnestness and a high 
order of ability. After his college course Mr. 
Schumaker taught in tlie public schools be- 
fore entering commercial life. Figures be- 
came Mr. Schumaker"s attraction early in life 
and with figures he has been closely identified 
ever since. An expert bookkeeper and ac- 
countant, a careful and competent auditor and 
a skilled and successful business analyst, his 
services were held in high repute and he was 
frequently called upon by prominent individual 
concerns, and also by the courts, to serve as 
trustee in complex business settlements and 
adjustments. 

In this line of work Mr. Schumaker became 
identified, in 1905, with the Uakdale Baking 
Company, of Philadelphia, and from that con- 
nection sprung up the greater corporation, the 
American Pretzel Company, of which he was 
its founder and of which he now is president. 
Before this company was organized he was 
president of the Oakdale Baking Company, and 
as such he realized to the fullest the value of 
co-operation and the corresponding disadvan- 
tages of reckless competition. In union there 
is 'strength, was his motto, his' slogan and his 
incentive, and putting into practical operation 
theories founded on good Inisiness acumen as 
well as on long and varied experience, he suc- 
ceeded in organizing the American Pretzel 
Company. 

In this giant enterprise there were and are 
five distinctive companies involved, namely, 
the Oakdale Baking Conij-any, of Philadelphia ; 
the Columbia and Pfenniger companies, of St. 
Louis, Mo.; the Queen City Pretzel Company, 
of Cincinnati, and the National Pretzel Com- 
]iany, of Hamilton, Ohio. 

The great corporation thus created, and due 
entirely to the enterprise, the energy and the 
initiative of Mr. Schumaker, controls about 80 
per cent of the pretzel business of the United 
States, and the sale of its products is extensive 



544 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



with the jurisdiction of Uncle Sam. It is 
worthy of record to note that each of the com- 
])anies involved had already achieved a repu- 
tation of its own, and that the coml)ination of 
the mechanical skill and perfect methods of 
each into one harmonious whole necessarily 
produces a result which, in the matter of pure 
products and cheap prices, is of primary im- 
])ortance to the public, which is benefitted to a 
large extent by the great merger. 

All of this goes to show that Mr. Schuniaker 
is not only one of the great captains of indus- 
try in the United States, but is also one of the 
foremost of its public benefactors. 

Mr. Schumaker has also been long interested 
in gas and gasoline products and was one of 
the pioneers in the manufacture of compressor 
gasoline from natural gas. He is connected 
with no technical or professional organiza- 
tions, but is a member of the Masonic Order 
and of College Fraternity Phi Gamma Delta. 
His only clubs are the Manufacturers' and the 
City, both of Philadelphia. 

He is a Republican in politics and in re- 
ligion a Baptist. In 1907 he w-as married to 
Dorothy May Turner, by w-hom he has three 
children. 

His' residence address is 6606 North Twelfth 
Street, Philadelphia, and his business address 
332 Widener Building, Philadelphia. 



WILLIAM A. LIPPINCOTT, JR. 

npHE name of Lippincott has been long and 
prominently identified with Philadelphia, 
and its representatives have been held in the 
highest esteem, both in the various fields of 
their life activities and as representative men 
of the Quaker City. 

Among these of the name of the present 
day generation that of William A. Lippincott, 
Jr., stands boldly forth. Born in Philadelphia 
in 1874, and son of William A. and Eleanor T. 
(Ketcham) Lippincott, he has been identified 
with it all his life and is today one of the most 
deservedly popular and highly regarded resi- 
dents of the old city founded by William Penn. 



Mr. Lip])inc<)tt received his education in the 
Penn Charter School and graduating therefrom 
he entered the University of Pennsylvania, and 
was a meml)er of the class of 1894. At that 
time, as well as long before it, his father was 
engaged in the business of shoe manufacturers' 
supplies, with a large establishment at 411 
Arch Street. Deciding upon a commercial life. 
Mr. Lippincott became associated with the 
business and continued in partnership with his 
father until the death of the latter in 1912. 

He then assumed full control and manage- 
ment and so earnestly and well did he devote 
himself to it that the resulting volume of 
largely increased trade made more spacious 
premises an absolute necessity. These were 
secured at 315 Arch Street, and there Mr. Lip- 
pincott now- does a business second to none 
along similar lines in Philadelphia. 

Mr. Lippincott is president and treasurer of 
the W. A. Lippincott Company, Inc., to which 
he devotes his entire and exclusive attention. 

He belongs to no professional or technical 
associations, but is a member of the Board of 
Directors of the Gallilee Mission of the Protes- 
tant Episcopal Church, to which he belongs, 
and is also a director of the Christian Associa- 
tion of the University of Pennsylvania. 

His recreations are golf, tennis and fishing, 
and in this connection he is an active member 
of the Overbrook Golf Club, and also the Mer- 
ion Cricket Club. He also holds membership 
in the Union League of Philadelphia and in 
the University Club, also of that city. 

Mr. Lippincott is a Republican, but has 
never held, or aspired to hold, political ofifice. 

Like all of his name he is deeply interested 
in the welfare of Philadelphia and every move- 
ment to advance it has his willing and liberal 
support. 

He was married in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, 
in 1899, to Ann R. Robb, and has one son, 
William A. Lippincott, 3d. 

His residence address is 2036 Upland Way, 
Overbrook, Philadelphia, and his business ad- 
dress 315 Arch Street, Philadelphia. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



545 



ip W . I I'.X K I XS, manufacturer of trim- 
mings for knit underwear, is one of the 
liest-known and most widel}' respected mer- 
chants in his line of l)usiness in riiila(U'li)hia. 
This btisiness he established and now con- 
ducts on the strict principle of absolute integ- 
rity, and this method has become so well rec- 
o<i"nized and appreciated b_\- the ])id)]ic that hi^^ 
business reputation, as well as his character as 
a man and as a citizen, is most highly 
esteemed. 

Mr. Tonkins was born in Reading, Pennsyl- 
vania, in b^()8, and is the son of (k-orge L. and 
losephine S. (Stout) Jenkins, both well-kncnvn 
residents of the Berks County town. Most of 
his life, however, has been identified with 
IMiiladelphia, in which his very successful busi- 
ness is located. He is a Republican in politics, 
but has never held political office. Neither is 
he associated with any public or other organi- 
zations, and his club membership is confined 
to that of the Manufacturers' Club of Phila- 
delphia, in which he takes an active interest. 
He is also a prominent and active member of 
the Masonic Order. He was married in 1895 
to Florence E. Trofif, and has one daughter. 
His residence address is 334 Gowen Avenue, 
Mount Airy, Pa., and his business address, 301 
Merchants and Mariners' Building, Philadel- 
phia. 



T GUIS RODMAN P.AGE, president of the 
f^age Coal and Coke Company, and also 
intimately associated with other corporations 
along the lines of the coal industry, is a well- 
known figure in commercial and financial cir- 
cles in Philadelphia, in which city he was born, 
his father being Joseph F. Page and his 
mother, before her marriage, Ellen Hansell. 
Receiving his elementary education in the pub- 
lic schools of the Quaker City, Mr. Page later 
attended the Rugby Academy and then en- 
tered the University of Pennsylvania, from 
which he graduated in 1883, with the degree 
of r>achelor of Arts. 

Mr. Page has been long and prominently 
associated with the coal trade and since 1890 
has been engaged in the development of coal 
mines in the Pocahontas region of the Norfolk 
and Western Railroad. Besides being presi- 
dent of the Page Coal and Coke Comi)any, he 



is vice-president of the Crozer Coal and Coke 
Comi)any, ])resi(lent of the Upland Coal and 
Coke (."ompany, president of the C"rozer-Poca- 
hontas Company and a director of the West- 
moreland Coal ( ompany. He is a director of 




LOUIS R. P.AGE 

the Maternity Hospital, J'hila(lel])]iia, of tlie 
Corn Exchange National liank. Philadelphia, 
and of the Delaware Count}- National Bank. He 
holds meml)ership in the Historical Society of 
Penns} Ivania, the Sons of the American Revo- 
lution and the Society of Colonial A\'ars, and 
his clulis are the Union League, the Kitten- 
house, the Philadelphia Countr_\' and the Mer- 
ion Cricket. 

In politics ^Ir. Page is a Republican, and in 
religion an l^^piscopalian. He was married 
in Upland, Pennsylvania, April 10, 1887, to 
Mary Crozer, and his children are Mrs. Caspar 
A\"istar Hacker, Mrs. J. M. r>rown. Jr., Major 
L. Rodman Page, Jr., and Captain Edward C. 
Page, the latter two serving with distinction 
in the American Arm\- during the war with 



546 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Germany. Mr. Page lives at Bryn Mawr, Pa., 
and his business address is 1510 North Ameri- 
can Building. Philadelphia. 




GEORCtE SCHMIDT 

T^HE Girard Iron Works, occupying ex- 
tensive premises at Twenty-second and 
Master Streets. Philadelphia, is a well-known 
factor in the industrial life of the Quaker City. 
Its trade is large and is steadily increasing, 
and this outcome of the enterprise is due in a 
very large measure to the energy, ability and 
initiative of its general manager, George 
Schmidt, the sul)ject of this sketch. 

For thirteen years Mr. Schmidt has been 
connected with the corporation. He entered 
its employment as a boy of seventeen in 1905 
and today, at thirty, he occupies one of the 
most responsible and exacting jjositions and is, 

besides, its secretary. 

Philadelphia is the place of Mr. Schmidt's 
birth and that event occurred August 30, 1888. 



His father was John Schmidt and his mother 
Elizabeth (Hertel) Schmidt, and he received 
his education in the public schools of Philadel- 
phia, later taking a course of instruction in the 
Central Manual Training School of the Quaker 
City. 

_\t the age of seventeen, as has been said, he 
entered the employment of the Girard Iron 
\\orks. This was in May, 1905, and for nine 
years, or until 1914. he remained in the ship- 
ping department. In the latter year his ability 
and faithfulness were recognized and appre- 
ciated in his promotion for full charge of the 
office, and in 1915 the company still further 
gave evidence of full appreciation of his work 
1)V promotion to the responsible position of 
general manager and secretary. In addition to 
this he fills the position of secretary to the 
Aetna Foundry Company, a large and success- 
ful corporation doing business at Twenty- 
second Street and Allegheny Avenue, I'hila- 
delphia. 

Mr. Schmidt is a prominent member of the 
Masonic Order, being a member of Philadel- 
phia Consistory, No. 32. He is also an active 
member of Lulu Shrine, and is connected with 
no other societies or social organizations. 

He was married in A\'ilmington, Delaware, 
November 14. 1911, to Frances iNIills. 

In politics he is a Republican and in religion 
a Lutheran. His residence address is 232 
North Fiftieth Street, Philadelphia, and his 
business address Twenty-second and Master 
.Streets, Philadelphia. 

JOSEPH H. PARVIN 

]y/|R. PARVIN was born in Philadelphia and 
received his education in private and pub- 
lic schools. His father was Albert Parvin and 
his mother Jane (Barber) Parvin. and each 
was of a family w^ell known, well connected 
and widely esteemed. 

Mr. Parvin began his successful career in 
life as a boy in the office of Isaac H. Hobbs and 
Company, well-known architects' of Philadel- 
phia. Here he remained for four years, but 
finding the employment too sedentary and 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



547 



liki'l\- to allect his lu'allh. lu- rrsigiK-d lu lmiui 
the cMuplo}'nient ui \\uWvX. j. Walker, promi- 
nent tinisher of cotton goocLs, with an extensive 
phmt in the (Juaker City. Jlere he ac([uired a 
large and xaluahle experience and devoted 
himself so earnestly and so efficiently to his 
duties that in a short time he was made man- 
ager of the works. After abont four gears' 
connection with the firm he resigned to enter 
into the manufacture of cotton dress goods. 
Associated with him in this initial venture to 
do business on his own account was his cousin, 
and the name of the firm started l)y both was 
F. W. and J. H. Parvin. 

After making this business a great and sig- 
nal success Mr. Parvin sold his interest in it to 
his ]iartner and accepted a position with the 
old and well-known firm of David S. Brown 
and Conipau}'. owners of the great mills at 
Gloucester, Xew Jersey. 

After two years" association with this firm 
he left it to become connected with that of 
W. M. and F. W. Sharpless, Philadelphia, with 
which he remained ten years, during wdiich he 
added to his steadily growing and extended ex- 
perience of commercial life in some of its most 
valuable and most interesting phases. Seven 
years more of an alert and promising business 
life were spent as a member of the firm of 
Charles J. Webb and Company, and then ^Ir. 
Parvin decided to start a business entirely on 
his own account, under his own direction and 
management. \A'ith Mr. John Dobson as a 
special partner the firm was' launched under 
the title of Joseph H. Parvin and Company and 
continued for five years, along progressive 
lines, wdien the partnership was dissolved. The 
business so successfully established was. how- 
ever, continued under the name of J. TF Par- 
vin until 1915, when Mr. Parvin retired. 

But while ]\lr. Parvin retired from the spe- 
cial yarn commission business, he still retained 
ownership of extensive cotton mills, and is 
largely interested in the real estate business, 
residential properties being his specialty. 

Besides these activities he is a director of 
the Corn Exchange National Bank of Phila- 



(kl|>liia, and has al^o extensive intere>ts in 
mining properties and coal lands. 

Mr. Farxin is a prominent member of the 
Masonic Fraternity and also holds niend)er- 
ship in the Fnion League of Pliiladelphia, the 
Manufacturers' Chd) of Fhiladelphia, and the 
( )verbrook Club. 

lie is a l\epu])lican in ])olilic>, and is in re- 
ligion a Fresbyterian. lb' was married in 
Fhiladelphia in 1886 to May L. Cornell, and 
has one daughter, Mrs. \'an Court Carwithen. 

His residence a(l<lress is Hamilton Court, 
Fhiladelphia, and his office address 300 Chest- 
nut Street, Fhiladelphia. 




EDWIN WOFF 

ll/'HEN Edwin Wolf assumed the presidency 
of the F>oard of h'ducation there began an 
era of progress in Philadelphia's educational 
life which has "worked wonders" with the pub- 
lic school system in this city. 

For more than seventeen years he had been 
a member of the board previous to his unani- 



548 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



mous selection to succeed IJenry K. l^dinunds. 
During most of that time he had been chair- 
man of tlie Finance Committee, the most im- 
])ortant committee associated with the board, 
lie hach since boyhood, l:)een particularly inter- 
ested in school matters, lie knew the i)rac- 
tical side of the educational system of Phila- 
delphia and consequently l)ecame at once the 
champion of the teachers and the pupils. 

President Wolf has injected business meth- 
ods into the workings of the Ijoard. He has 
been instrumental in having abolished many of 
the unnecessary features concerning its work- 
ings. The gathering of elaborate statistics 
covering various technical features of school 
conduct doesn't interest Mr. Wolf nearly so 
much as does the establishment of i)roper 
school facilities for the thousands of new pu- 
pils that each year enroll in the schools. 

Almost the iirst line of attack President 
Wolf engineered w hen he became president of 
the board in 1917 was a campaign to do away 
with extravagance in educational expenditures 
and to facilitate the workings of the board 
through abolition of "w^asteless energy" in the 
statistical field. 

He figured the teachers should have a larger 
"say" in the curriculum of the schools, inas- 
much as they are in direct touch with the chil- 
dren and their needs. He favored the merger 
of high schools rather than the construction of 
separate buildings for l)oys and girls, with in- 
dependent principals. President Wolf would 
drop two associate superintendents and would 
cond)ine the school of pedagogy with the nor- 
mal school. 

His agitation for "more progress" in school 
matters has brought about radical changes in 
the board's method of operation and has re- 
sulted in the saving of man}- thousands of dol- 
lars in school expense. 

Mr. AYolf was born in ( )hio, on March 11. 
1(S55. He came to Philadelphia and entered 
the public schools. Later he attended private 
institutions. After leaving school he traveled 
for a. year in Europe. On his return he en- 
gaged wMth his brothers in the paper and en- 
velope manufacturing business. 



in IS'^iy Mr. Wolf, with his foin* vounger 
l:)rothers, established the Ijanking and brokei- 
age business of Wolf Brothers and Company. 
The office of the firm is now in the Empire 
Building, Thirteenth and Chestnut Streets. 
Recentl}' the firm estaldished branch ofiices in 
New York City and in Atlantic City. 

Mr. Wolf is president of the National Metal 
lulge Box Company ; treasurer of the Standard 
Machine Company and a director in the Betz- 
wood Film Company. 

He has for years been interested in Jewish 
literature and has served as director and presi- 
dent of the Je\\ish Publication Society. 

He is a member of the board of governors 
of Dropsie College and is active in aft'airs of 
the < )hio Societv. 



AV. P. BARBA 

npllHvTY-SiN years' continuous service with 
any one lousiness organization is a record 
(jf which to feel proud. It is a record of abso- 
lute efticiency on the one hand and of com- 
plete confidence on the other, and is rendered 
the greater and the more striking by the fact 
that the organization involved in the relation- 
ship is the Midvale Steel Company, which has 
reduced efticienc}- to a fine art, and which de- 
mands the very perfection of competence in 
even the most minor detail of its wonderfully 
adjusted system. 

( )f this powerful industrial organization W. 
P. Barl)a was \'ice-president when, in (October, 
19b), he voluntarily resigned to apply his train- 
ing and talent to another line of business. 
Born in Philadelphia in the year 1865, and son 
of William and Anna (Millar), Mr. Barba 
receixed the elements of what subse- 
cpientlv became a thorough education in 
the i)ublic schools of Philadelphia. Entering 
the emi)loyment of the Midvale Steel Company 
while vet a boy. he applied himself to a mas- 
tery of the details of his' work with such as- 
siduitv and zeal that in the remarkably short 
l)eriod of nine years he was made chief chem- 
ist, then department sui)erintendent. general 
sui)erintendent of Avorks. and finally general 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



549 



inanasj^cr of sales. In each of these iniiiorlant 
l)Ositions lie developed and displayed talents 
that a])pealed to and diMnandecl both recog- 
nition and reward and both came when, in a 
comparatively few years, he was elex'ated from 
the i)osition of general sales manager to the 
more important, more exacting, and more re- 
sponsible one of general manager ot the en- 
tire s^•stem. This position he held nntil he 
was made \ ice-})resident on the taking o\er 
of the ]dant by the Corey interests. 

Mr. llarba has a wide knowdedge of ordnance 
matters, guns, armor, projectiles, and all hne 
steel products, and has alwa}-s been identified 
with the most expert and enlightened prog- 
ress of the manufacture and marketing of these 
l)roducts of the Midvale Steel Company. 

His resignation from the active work w^as 
jn-ompted simply by his need of rest and was 
acce])ted In' the president and directorate of 
the company with reluctance and regret, as 
Mr. Rarba had become so thoroughly identified 
with it as to be regarded as almost a necessary 
unit in the working of its system. 

Almost at the same time that the directorate 
of the Midvale Steel Corporation accepted his 
resignation the Northern Trust Company was 
electing him to its directorate. He is also a 
director of Harrison lirothers and Company, 
manufacturing chemists, and of the ( lirard 
National Bank. 

Mr. Barba resides at 3107 North Coulter 
Street, Germantown. 



^ORTON H. WEBER, vice-president of the 
Pure Oil Company. Philadelphia, was 
born in Dempseytown, Pennsylvania, on Oc- 
tober 6. 1871, and is the son of George K. and 
Elizabeth (Homan) Weber. After the regular 
course in the public schools' of A^enango 
Countv he started w hat subse(|uently proved a 
strenuous and success life as extra clerk in the 
freight office of the W. N. Y. and P. Railroad, 
at Titusville. Pa., in 1890. 

As an instance of his earnestness and deter- 
mination at this period to master all the essen- 
tial details of his prospective work it may be 



noted here that he worked for one month and 
nineteen days without pay. For this rather 
unusual act of self-abnes^ation he was rewarded 
by the consciousness that he had acquired 




NORTON 11. W l-.lii:R 

a perfect knowledge of the company's methods, 
within his sphere of operati(tns. 'Jdiis his em- 
])]overs soon realized, and within the compara- 
ti\'elv short jicriod of three _\-ears from the date 
of his emi)loyment he was promoted to the re- 
sponsible and exacting position of chief clerk 
and cashier. 

This position Mr. Weber held until March, 
1899, wdien he left the railway comi)any to take 
a position with the Producers and Refiners' 
Oil Company, a subsidiary of the Pure Oil 
Company, at ( ^il City. 

.After a short time the company removed to 
Pittsburgh and after about three months in 
that city Mr. Weber came to Philadelphia as 
bookkeeper of the Pure Oil Company. This 
was in fulv. 1901, and in May of the following 



550 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



year he was elected secretary, 'i liis position 
he held until February 28, 1912, when he was 
elected treasurer. On February 23, 1916, he 
was made a director of the company and on 
August 6, 1917, was elected vice-president. 

Along with being a director and vice-presi- 
dent of the Pure Oil Company, Mr. A\ eber is 
a director and general manager of the United 
States Pipe Line and vice-president and direc- 
tor of the Producers and Refiners' Oil Com- 
pany, the Pure Oil Steamship Company, the 
Pure Oil Pipe Line Company, the Pure Oil 
Producing Company and the Pure Oil Operat- 
ing Company, and of the Ohio Cities Gas Com- 
l^any. 

He is also a memlier of LTniversity Lodge, 
F. and A. M. ; of Quaker City Lodge, 310. L O. 
O. -F. ; of the ^Manufacturers' Clul) and of the 
Bon Air Country Clul). In politics he is a 
Republican, but has never sought or accepted 
office. 

His residence address is 6115 Columbia Ave- 
nue, Philadelphia, and his business address 
Lafayette Building, Philadelphia. 

JOHN J. TURNEY 

'T^HE firm of William J. Grandfield is one of 
the oldest general ship brokerage and 
steamship agencies in Philadelidiia. Started 
in 1886, it became almost immediately an un- 
qualified success, and as years passed de- 
veloped along the lines of most progressive 
thought and the most modern and progressive 
ideas. 

This was due solely and emj)hatically to con- 
servative management, good business tact and 
sound judgment, and today these features 
stand out in bold relief in the general man- 
agement of the large and still steadily grow- 
ing business of the firm. 

In 1898 John J. Turney, the sul)ject of this 
sketch, became identified w^ith the firm. He 
began in the comparatively humble capacity of 
clerk, but so well and earnestly did he dis- 
charge the duties of his position that in 1913 
he was admitted to partnership. In Septem- 
ber of that year William J. Grandfield, founder 



of the business, died, and in 1914 Mr. Turney 
l^ecame its sole owner. 




JOHN J. TURNEY 

From that event the process of greater ex- 
pansion of the firm's business, and even its 
more progressive ideas, may be dated. To ef- 
fect this work Mr. Turney labored unceas- 
ingly and well, bringing to bear in the de- 
velopment of his plans a ripe experience, a 
cool, calm and deliberate judgment and a spirit 
of initiative and of enterprise which efifected 
wonderful and far-reaching results. 

He organized the harbor transportation and 
lighterage business of the Eastern Lighterage 
Company and took over the lighterage and 
steam towage business of Harry W. White- 
man, which is now efficiently operated by the 
Turney Transportation Company. He also 
organized the Philadelphia Barge Company, 
which now controls and operates a large fleet 
of barges engaged in coastwise movements. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



5S1 



To own and operate a large and i,n-o\ving 
fleet in l)oats was one thing: to keep these 
boats in repair cpiite another. To meet and 
solve the economic prol)lem thus involved, Mr. 
Turney, with characteristic forethought and 
enterprise, organized the Delaware Shii)l)uild- 
ing and Repair Compau}- and estahlislied an 
extensive yard at Cooper's Point, Camden, 
N. T. This i)lant is thoroughly e(pupi)ed to 
repair steamships, l)arges and towbuats and 
also possesses facilities for the complete con- 
struction of steel or wooden barges. 

Apart from the activities which all these 
establishments involve and which necessarily 
rec|uire the utmost attention and energy, Mr. 
Turney has established an import, export and 
purchasing department in Philadelphia. This 
department, which is an innovation in a new 
and original direction, is engaged in facilitat- 
ing and building up commercial relations be- 
tween American manufacturers' and the luu-o- 
pean, Central and South American and West 
Indies trade. Its clientele is now most ex- 
tensive and embraces some of the largest firms 
both in the United States and abroad. 

Vast though Mr. Turney's business activi- 
ties are, and great as has been their develop- 
ment and progress, he looks ahead with confi- 
dence to the successful consummation of even 
greater projects. Still a young man in his 
thirties, a brighter and even more progressive 
future looms within the vista of his life work 
and ambition and, with him. greater under- 
takings are in the making. Apart from any- 
thing which the future may develop and also 
outside the sphere of his strictly personal and 
direct interests and activities, he acts as presi- 
dent of the Woodoleum Manufacturing Com- 
pany, a Philadelphia concern specializing on 
composition flooring especially adapted for 
use on ships. 

He is' an active member of the Board of 
Trade of Philadelphia, of the Philadelphia 
Chamber of Commerce, of the ^Maritime Ex- 
change, of the Commercial Museum, of the 
Manufacturers' Club, of the Vessel Owners 
and Captains' Association, and of many other 
business and social organizations and also acts 



as honorary consul of the Government of 
X'enezuela. 




[A^IES A. M()()XI-A'. prominently con- 
nected with the cold storage and ware- 
housing business in Philadeli)hia, was born in 
Ansonia, Connecticut, on February 23. 1881, 
his father being James F. Mooney and his 
mother Cecelia Mooney. nee McGaftigan. 

While yet a boy Mr. Mooney came to Pliila- 
delphia and received his education in the i)ul)- 
lic schools of that city. At the age of twelve 

that is. in 1893 — he began a business career 

in which energy, ability, and success have been 
factors. l)y entering the employment of the 
Quaker City Cold Storage and \\"areh( .using 
Company. 

With this firm he gained an experience of 
twelve years, and then, in 1905. became con- 
nected with the Industrial Cold Storage and 
Warehousing Company. Nine years later his 
abilities were formally recognized by this ap- 
pointment, in 1914, to the responsible position 



552 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



of general manager, whicli he still continues to 
hold. 

In 1904 he was married, in Atlantic City, 
N. j.. to Henrietta L. Horn, by whom he has 
had hve children. In politics Mr. Mooney is a 
Republican, and the only fraternal associations 
with which he is connected is the Michael 
Arnold Lodge, No. 636, F. and A. Masons. 

His residence address is 407 Franklin Ave- 
nue, Cheltenham, Pa., and his business address 
American and Berks Streets, Philadelphia 

UFRBERT D. ALLMAN, merchant, manu- 
facturer and decorator, was' born in Phila- 
delphia January 30, 1S63, and is the son of 
David and Pauline (Kayser) Allman. He re- 
ceived his elementary education in the public 
schools of his native city and later graditated 
from the Northeast Grammer School. When 
twenty-one years old he became junior partner 
in the well-known firm of Kayser and Allman 
and five years later became its senior member. 
He continued as head and controlling spirit 
of the firm until 1909, when he retired from 
active business, after having succeeded in es- 
tablishing for the enterprise a repvitation for 
business methods and integrity which has 
placed it in the front rank of such industries 
in Pennsylvania, or as a matter of fact in the 
United States. 

]\lr. Allman was president of the Columbia 
Wall Paper Company and also president of 
the Lewis Chase Wall Paper Company, of 
Bristol, Pa., both large and widely known 
manufacturing concerns. He is on the advis- 
or}' board of the Pennsylvania Museum and 
School of Industrial Art, the National Farm 
Schodl. a director of the Hebrew Charities, and 
a member of the Philadelphia Chamber of 
Commerce, in which he serves upon four im- 
|)ortant committees, and a director of the Va- 
cant Lot Association. 

The fraternal and other societies with which 
he is connected are Shekinah, F. and A. M.; 
Keystone Chapter, F. A. M. ; Fairmount Park 
Art Association and Walnut Street Business 
Association. He is also president of the Cen- 



tury Dining Club and a member of the Terra- 
pin Club, the Manufacturers' Club, the City 
Ch\h and the Economic Club. 

Mr. Allman has traveled extensively in 
Europe, is much interested in music and is a 
well-known art collector, this collection, 
unique in its way, including paintings of the 
Barbazon school, Corot, Daubiny, Diaz, Dupre, 
Harpinies, Piss'arro, Rosseau and many others. 

Mr. Allman is independent in politics and a 
staunch and steady advocate of civic reforms. 
He was chairman of the George D. Porter 
morality campaign, and is also a prominent 
member of the Committee of One Hundred 
and the Committee of Seventy. His religion 
is reform Jewish. 

Mr. Allman was married in September, 1891, 
to Alildred Cavalho Numez, and they have 
three children, Druard Numez, born in 1894; 
A. Paul, born in 1896, and Constance Burnelle, 
born in 1901. 

Mr. Allman's residence address is 3819 Wz\- 
nut Street, Philadelphia. 

WILLARD AI. WHITNEY 

/^NE of the prominent and successful leaders 
of Philadelphia's commercial life is ^^^ill- 
ard M. \Vhitney, coal operator. Although he 
has been in Philadelphia only ten years' and is 
still a young man, his business and executive 
ability has lifted him steadily to a command- 
ing position in the mining Avorld. 

With a grade and high school education to 
prepare him, he started on his business career 
when still little more than a boy. Since then 
he has risen rapidly, and even in his youth 
displayed the qualities which today character- 
ize his handling of the afi^airs of the Whitney 
Coal and Mining Company, of which he is 
president. 

None of the opportunities which young men 
are. so prone to ignore was overlooked by Mr. 
Whitney in his fight for a place where his 
ability woidd win recognition. AX'hen he 
learned that he could accomplish most in coal 
mining he left the railroad business for the 
new field. 



THE STORY OF ''IIILADELPIU A 



1 53 



Willard M. Whitney was born in Athens, 
X. Y.. Sci)tenil)C'r 23, 18X2, wlu-rc he atten(U'(l 
the grade schools and the high schot)L After 
leaving school he entered the offices' of the 
lersev Central Railroad there, because he 
thought the railroad offered him the best 0]i- 
portunitv to advance. 

Mr. Whitney rose ra])idly in the raid<s of 
the Jersey Central company's em])lo\es, work- 
ing up through several positions of res])onsi- 
bilitv. Finally, he was appointed station 
master. Although he was then oidy twent}- 
hve years old. and young for the place he held, 
he began to realize that in the great army of 
railroad men there was' not the opportunit>- he 
sought to put his name in a place of promi- 
nence. 

As this realization came to him. he became 
interested in coal mining and studied it care- 
fulh" while still employed by the railroad. In 
1908 he reached the decision that it was tinu 
for him to start if he wished to make progress 
in the coal business. So he came to I'hiladel- 
phia. Here he devoted his best efforts to the 
business in which he was to succeed or fail. 
His success here was the same as with the 
railroad. He advanced rapidly through several 
positions until he came to a place where he 
believed he could go into business for himself. 

His venture was successful, and in Decem- 
ber. 1917, he put his' name in a place of honor 
in the business world by organizing the A\'hit- 
ney Coal and ^Mining Company. His concern 
is incorporated under the laws of Pennsylvania, 
and ^Ir. Whitney has his offices as president 
and general manager at 2230 Land Title Build- 
ing. 

Afr. Whitney was married before he came to 
Philadelphia. In 1905, Miss Hester L. Cress 
became his wife. They had one child, Helen 
Cr. Whitney, and make their home at 1522 Rus- 
comb Street, Philadelphia. 

In politics, Mr. Whitney is a Rei)iddican. 
He is a Shriner, l^eing a member of Lu Lu 
Temple and other Masonic l)odies. 

p^AROLD P,. LARZELERE, who has es- 
tablished a largfe l)usiness in the manufac- 



ture ol motor trucks, was born in 1 'hiladeljjhia 
June 23. 187'>. the son of James II. Parzelere 
and Anna .M . I.arzelere, nee better. 




HAROLD B. l.\kzi-:li-.ri-: 

He recei^•ed a scnmd and liberal education in 
tlie Clieltenham .Mibtary .\ca(lem_\- and in 1905 
entered the employment of the Chadwick iui- 
gineering \\'orks, as sales manager. This im- 
portant and res'])onsible position he held for 
five }ears. when he became connected with 
the \'im Motor Truck Com])any. a business 
\-enture which owes its organization entirely 
to him. 

Mr. Larzelcre dex'otes much of his time to 
fraternal societies and is an active member of 
the Society of Automobile Engineers, the 
Philadelphia Automobile Trade Association, 
the Pennsylvania Motor Federations and the 
American Automobile Association. He is a 
member of the I'nion League of Philadeli)hia 
and also of the Huntingdon X'alley Country 
Club. 



554 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



He was married in May, 1905, to Annie Har- 
ron Schively, and has one son, Harold B., Jr. 

j\Ir. Larzelere, who is a Republican in poli- 
tics, served with distinction in the Spanish- 
American ^\'ar. His residence is Wyncote 
Road, Germantown, and his business address 
is Twenty-third and Market Streets', Philadel- 
phia. 

RUDOLPH MELVILLE HUNTER 

AS mechanical and electrical engineer, in- 
ventor and scientist of deep original re- 
search. Rudolph Melville Hunter, of Philadel- 
phia, is internationally prominent. He was 
born in New York City, June 20. 1856. and is 
of Scotch ancestry dating back to the Hunters 
of Hunterston in the time of Alexander H of 
Scotland. He was educated at Edmonton, 
England ; Ecole des Professionale, Monteville, 
France ; Upper Canada College, Toronto, Can- 
ada, and Polytechnic College, of the State of 
Pennsylvania, graduating in 1878 with the 
highest honors in mechanical and electrical 
engineering. Being in business seven years 
before obtaining his college degree, he con- 
tinued business while attending college. 
Throughout his forty-seven years of engineer- 
ing he has combined with it a patent practice. 
As inventor and patentee, he stands third or 
fourth in the whole world. His patents are 
fundamental, covering the electric railway art 
(trolley, conduit and accumulator systems) ; 
also the transformer system of electrical trans- 
mission (both method and means for transmis- 
sion with reduction of potential as w-ell as the 
combined "step-up" and "step-down" system) ; 
also electric point welding system. He in- 
vented and constructed the first modern mov- 
ing-picture machine (1894) and had the first 
moving-picture exhibition hall in the country. 
In and following 1874, he was engaged in 
building iron and steel plants in Ohio, Ken- 
tucky and West Virginia, and was engineer to 
Olive Foundry and Machine Works of fronton, 
Ohio; consulting engineer in Chicago in 1876; 
organized the Atlantic and Pacific Electric 
Mfg. Co., 1879 (secretary and director) ; Globe 



^Ifg. Co., 1885 (director) ; Hunter Electric Co., 
1886-1887 (director) ; Electric Car Co. of 
America, 1887 (president) ; General Electric 
Automobile Co., 1898 (director) ; Tractor 
Truck Co., 1899 (director) ; The Mirabile Cor- 
poration, 1902 (president) ; U. S. Assay and { 
Bullion Co., 1903 (president). He was also ■ 
director in Acetylene Light, Heat & Power 
Co., 1902; Electric Vehicle Equipment Co., 
1902 ; Herr Automatic Press Co., 1906, and ■ 
others. He organized Hunter Pressed Steel \ 
Co., 1914 (owner). ' 

In expert capacity Mr. Hunter has been re- 
tained by many corporations, among them 
General Electric Co. (twenty-one years) ; \'ic- ! 
tor Talking Machine Co. (seventeen years) ; ■ 
also the Continental Conduit and Cable Co. ; ' 
AVestinghouse Electric & Mfg. Co. ; National 
Cable Railway Co. ; United Gas Improvement 
Co. ; Thomson-Houston Electric Co., and nu- 
merous others. In 1879-1881, he developed a ' 
submarine vessel, in 1882 published an illus- 
trated pamphlet on it, and in 1883 submitted 
the in\ention to the British Government. He ; 
developed a smokeless' powder and made tests ' 
for the French Government in 1883-1884; 
placed before the British Parliament, in May, 
1883, his electric railway plans for use in pro- 
posed Dover and Calais tunnel ; gave demon- 
strations of his submarine to the Chief of the 
Torpedo Service of Great Britain in 1884. and 
to members of the United States Congress in 
1885. His inventions have been controlled by 
many corporations, among which are Thom- 
son-Houston Elec. Co., General Elec. Co., and. 
the Westinghouse Elec. & Mfg. Co., which 
owaied, controlled, or were licensed under 
about 300 patents ; Electric Car. Co. of Amer- 
ica, about 150 patents; General Electric Auto- 
mobile Co.. about 70 patents ; Tractor Truck 
Co., 8 patents ; International Power Co., about 
72 patents ; and very many other companies 
and individuals, who have used and are using 
his patents in many and varied industries. His 
earliest invention was a machine for making 
tambour lace in 1868. He regards' as the great- 
est of all his work, that in original research 
carried on since 1903, relative to the breaking 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



n.T5 



down and reconstruction of atomic matter, in- 
cluding the transmutation of the elements. His 
work in this direction has been extensively re- 
ferred to by the press. He describes the re- 
sults of his work, which have enabled him to 
transmute one character of atom into another, 
thus: "This may be done as an instantaneous 
process, or it may l)e caused to take place 
slowly as a 'growing' process. The precious 
metals are more easily produced by transmuta- 
tion than the baser ones. For example, pure 
gold may be made commercially at a cost not 
exceeding about 10 per cent of the values pro- 
duced. The process does not set the electrons 
of the atoms free, but so modifies the control 
of the electrons within the confines of their 

J ; atomic structure, that combining of a plurality 
of atoms to form an atom of a greater atomic 
weight is possible. This process is rapid when 
conditions are right. In case of 'growing.' the 
process is relatively slow, but is in elTect the 
creation of life to a mineral, which gives to it 
a place analagous to plant and animal life. In 
other words — I may treat a silver dollar to a 
process which impresses upon it certain phy- 
sical conditions, and thereafter, within its 
mass', gold will 'grow' in such cpiantity that it 
may be separated by any refining process. At 
the beginning of the 'growing' phenomena 
there was no gold, but after a year or so, the 
richness in gold is very pronounced, and this 
growing of the atom, gold, when no gold was 
before present, may continue until 10 to 20 
per cent of the mass has been changed." 

England's greatest chemist, the late Sir 
\\'illiam Ramsay, was in touch with Mr. Hun- 
ter in this work, had many samples of the 
growing gold and made corroborative analyses 
in respect to some of the tests for Mr. Hunter. 
Mr. Hunter is a member of the Manufactur- 
ers' Club of Philadelphia, the American Insti- 
tute of Electrical Engineers (since 1884), the 
Societie Internationale des Elcctriciens, Paris 

! j (foundation member), and the American Asso- 
ciation for the Advancement of Science. 

T GUIS P. CLARK in 1908 was appointed 
eastern manager of the Detroit Insulated 



W ire Company, the duties of which position he 
still discharges with the utmost efficiencv and 
with most decided advantage to the concern. 
He is also secretary of the Consolidated l*".lec- 
trical Manufacturing Company of Philadc]])hia. 




LOUIS P. CLARK 

Air. Clark was born in West Point. New 
York, April 30, 1870, and is son of Joseph and 
Mary E. (Goodell) Clark. He was educated in 
private schools of Philadelphia and later at- 
tended a course at Swarthmore College, 
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, from which he 
graduated in the class of 1891, bearing off the 
degree of Bachelor of Sciences. 

Mr. Clark is not connected with any scien- 
tific or technical organizations, but is a mem- 
ber of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity of his 
Alma Mater, in the affairs of which he is much 
interested. 

He is also an active member of the Manu- 
facturers' Club of Philadelphia and is keenly 



556 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



interested in all out-door sports, his particular 
recreation being auto riding, in which he in- 
dulges to a large extent. He is a Republican 
in politics and in religion is a Protestant 
PLpiscopalian. 

lie was married in Chicago, April 30, 1895, 
to Leila A. Deacon, and has three children : 
]\larv Clark, ClitTord K. Clark and Louis P. 
Clark, Jr. 

J lis residence address is' Ridley Park. Pa., 
and his business address is 249 North Twelfth 
Street, Philadelphia. 



C. C. DAVLS 

Y\/HAT nerves' are to a man, electricity is to 
industr}'. 

Therefore, it is ])lain that Chester C. Davis, 
president of the C. C. Davis Electric Company, 
which furnishes the greatest industrial plants 
of I'hiladelphia and vicinity with electrical 
su])])lies and equipment is performing a most 
imjxirtant function in the industrial life of the 
country. Philadel])hia and \'icinity, be it re- 
membered, forms the greatest industrial region 
in the Ignited States. 

Mention of a few of the concerns which, 
electrically, depend upon Chester C. Davis for 
their existence, liriefly, yet significantly, indi- 
cates the extent of the service which this enter- 
])rising "captain of industry" gives to this and 
neighboring states. 

During the war the C. C. Davis Llectric 
Comijany furnished war material to the Emer- 
gency Elect Corporation, the Department of 
Commerce Lighthouse Service, the Erankford 
Arsenal, and Philadeljjhia Navy Yard. It sup- 
pliefl electrical material and electrical eciuip- 
ment for the repair of vessels; marine ecjuip- 
ment for lights and motors; the fittings of 
motors to connect them with tin-l)ines ; material 
f(,-r the maintenance of motors — in fact, every- 
thing electrical. 

Mefore. during and since the war, this com- 
pany furnished wholesale supplies to the Bald- 
win Locomotive Works, the du Ponts and 
other great industrial plants. Eurthermore, it 
furnished dealers and contractors with supplies 



for electrical installation and repair with con- 
duit and wiring equipment. 

While the Davis company does a great busi- 
ness in supplies, it does not do actual installa- 
tion, but furnishes' material for installation. 

Asked to describe conditions that make for 
the phenomenal success of his business, Mr. 
Davis volunteered the following information : 

"My great endeavor is always to give prompt 
and good service. To this chiefly I attribute 
our success. In oiir particular line it is, above 
all things, necessary that we give careful atten- 
tion to all orders and analyze them before 
attempting to fill them. By doing so, we are 
usually able to make valuable suggestions to 
our customers which give them a far better 
service than they thought possible. Our in- 
quiries are usually inadequately answered by 
customers, and we often have to supply infor- 
mation as well as equipment. But our cus- 
tomers quicklv learn to appreciate this' feature 
of our work, and we find them, as a rule, very 
grateful for suggestions that extend their 
knowledge and their service. 

"Another great element in our success is the 
bonus system I have established fo» our em- 
ployes. A\'e divide, at the end of the year, our 
profits with our employes. I'his makes' them 
feel they are a part of the business, which in 
fact they are. and a most important part. They 
give us the best there is in them. This system 
also has a great tendency to hold them to us 
because after the second week of the new year 
they are already looking forward to the bonus, 
which annu;jlly amounts' to considerable money 
for them. I inaugurated this method two years 
ago and have found it well worth while." 

Mr. Davis was born in Coatesville, Pennsyl- 
vania. Septemljcr 24. 1885. He was educated 
in the jniblic and high schools of that city and 
in the Peirce Business College. He formed the 
C. C. Davis Electric Comi)an}' in 1908. 

Mr. Davis is a member of the Chamber of 
Commerce, of the Jovian Electric Order, the 
Masonic Eastern Star, the Eastern Travelers 
of Wes't Philadelphia, and the Electrical Credit 
Association. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



557 



VyALTlUv P. BRUW'X. president uf the one of the most higliK e.>teenied ot' the 



Charles B. Norton Coal Company, began 
his business career with that organization dur- 
ing the latter ])art of 1902. At the time of his 
affiliation with the concern he occupii'd a posi- 
tion to which, at that time, little imjxM-tance 
was attached. 

Api)lying' himself assiduously to w hate\er 
duties were assigned to him, he rose rung by 
rung in the ladder of success, occupying since 
his association with the coal company various 
positions, including that of secretary and treas- 
urer. Upon the death of Charles B. Norton in 
1916, ^Ir. Brown became acting head of the 
business. 

Mr. Brown's father, j. Henry Brown, a cele- 
brated miniature artist, included in his large 
circle of friends two former presidents of the 
United States, Abraham Lincoln and James 
Buchanan. 

\\'alter P. Brown is a native born Philadel- 
])hian. He received his edtication at the Cen- 
tral High School and began his bttsiness ca- 
reer shortly after lea\ing that institution. He 
is unmarried and resides at the Hotel Nor- 
mandie. Chestnut and Thirty-sixth streets. His 
business office is in the Stephen Girard Build- 
in 2". 



FRANCIS j. MANEELY 

AX EXTb:XSI\'E general practice at the 
P>ar is not always the fruition of superior 
legal talent, nor is it always associated with 
industry and perseverance. Sometimes it is 
due to the merest accident and sometimes to a 
combination of circumstances. But as far as 
bVancis J. Alaneely is concerned neither of 
these factors aided or controlled the establish- 
ment of the large ])ractice which has come to 
him. 

This was purely founded upon all those at- 
tributes that go to make up the successful law- 
}er, as well as the lawyer who enjoys the con- 
fidence of his clients and the respect of the 
public. All these (pialities, or attributes, 
Mr. Ataneely has to a marked degree, and the 
natural consequence is that he stands today 



most numbers of the legal profession in 

el]ihia. 



lore- 
'hila- 




ERAXCIS J. MAXEICEY 

Air. Maneely was bcM'n in Philadel])hia. 
( )ctober 18, 1S7,\ and was educated in Ea S;dle 
College, in the Ouaker City, from which he 
graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, 
which his Alma Mater bestowed upon him in 
recognition of his great and \-aried abilities. 

After leaving Ea Salle College he entered 
the Ea\v School of the E^niversity of Pennsyl- 
vania, from which he graduated with high hon- 
ors in E^95. He was immediatelv admitted to 
the liar of Philadelphia and started that prac- 
tice which, in a remarkal)l\' short time, he 
made so successful. 

Afr. Maneely is a prominent member of the 
Knights of Columbus, of the Philopatrian So- 
ciety of Philadelphia, of the Societe Francaise 
de Bienfaisance and of the Scheutzen Verein. 



558 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



He is also a member of the Philadelphia Club 
and of the Merion Cricket Clul). 

His residence is in Germantown, I^hiladel- 
phia, and his law offices in the Pennsylvania 
Building, Philadelphia. 







CHARLES H. C(JLLINS 

pilVSlCAL CULTURIv, or more properly 
physical education, has in these days at- 
tained the dignit}' and importance of an exact 
science and forms an imi)ortant feature of stu- 
dent life in many of the schools, colleges and 
universities (jf the Cnited States". 

( )f the teachers or prdfesscjrs of this science 
in Philadel])hia Charles N. Collins holds, ad- 
mittedly, the foremost place. Son of Richard 
I'd well Collins and his wife, nee Ida Taylor, 
he was l)orn in Dwight, Illinois, on August 6, 
1(S84. Securing a liberal education in the pri- 
mary schools and in the high school of his 
native town, he began his life career in Chi- 
cago, where he conducted a physical culture 
school from 1905, when he was just twenty- 



one, until 1911. Philadelphia was his next ob- 
jective point, and in 1911 he began there what 
subsequently developed into the most success- 
ful Imsiness enterprise in the field of physical 
culture. 

After three years, during which he and his 
system and establishment attained a large 
measure of distinction and considerable patron- 
age, the business was incorporated under the 
laws of Pennsylvania as' the Collins System of 
Physical Culture, and he became its president. 

In 1916 he incorporated the Collins System 
of Physical Culture for Women under the 
laws of the State of Delaware and became the 
I)resident and controlling spirit of this new 
organization also. Both these important posi- 
tions he still retains and his interest in the 
business to which his life has been devoted, 
and wdiich he has made such a prominent suc- 
cess, is as keen today as it was in the olden 
days when Chicago claimed him as her citizen. 

The Collins System of Physical Culture oc- 
cupies the extensive fourth and fifth floors of 
the Collins Building, Fifteentli and Walnut 
Streets, Philadelphia, while the Collins System 
of Physical Culture for Women occupies the 
fifth floor of the Bellevue Court Building, both 
in the ver}- center of the Quaker City. Mr. 
Collins is a member of the Sons of Veterans 
of America, of the Philadelphia Chamber of 
Commerce, of the \Valnut Street Business 
Men's Association, and of the Poor Richard, 
City and Khonas clubs. 

He is keenly devoted to baseball, motoring, 
bowling and golf, and is a prominent member 
of the Quaker City Motor Club and the Phila- 
delphia Motor Speedway Association. 

Mr. Collins was married in May, 1907, to 
Harriet E. Mallady, Chenoa, 111., and has two 
daughters, Helen L. and Harriet R. 

His residence address is 108 Nippon Street, 
Mt. Airy, Pa., and his' business address Collins 
Building, Fifteenth and A\'alnut Streets. Phila- 
delphia. 

JA^IES CARSTAIRS is one of the younger 

generation of the stock brokers of Phila- 

del])hia who have made their mark in the finan- 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



559 



cial world of the (Juakfr L'ity aiul wli.. arc 
amongst the foremost of its most proniiiuMit, 
most energetic citizens. Young in }ears. lie is 
old in experience, and there are few men in the 
honored ranks of his profession who com])ine 
more in their person sound ])u^iness tact, cool 
and accurate judgment and clear perce])ti()ns 
than does he. 

Mr. Carstairs was born in the City of Thihi- 
deli)hia January 2, 18<S0. and is the son of 
James and Mary (Haddock) Carstairs. After 
receiving his elementary educatit)n in the i)ul)- 
lic schools of his native city, he attended the 
well-known Pomfret School in Connecticut and 
later entered the University of Harvard. In 
1901. when only tw^enty-one years old. he 
entered the brokerage business and remained 
with the hrm of Charles D. Barney and Com- 
pany until 1910. In that year he decided to 
start in business for himself and formed a part- 
nership with Armitt I'.rtjwn. under the firm 
name of Carstairs and Brown, which hrm con- 
tinued until February of 1917 when Mr. 
Brown retired, and Christian A. Hagan and 
William Moorehouse were admitted to the 
firm, the title of which is James Carstairs and 
Comj)any. 

Under a wise and conservative administra- 
tion, which was not the less progressive or 
alert, the Inisiness of the new hrm steadily 
developed and progressed until it had estab- 
lished itself among the leading Ijrokerage con- 
cerns of Philadelphia. 

Mr. Carstairs is a member of the Philadel- 
phia Stock Exchange and his clubs are the 
Union League, the Rac(|uet and the Country. 
He is a Repuldican in politics. 

He married in lu'ie. Pa., in 1896, Priscilla 
Mory Taylor, and has one daughter. 

His residence address is Ardmore. Pa., and 
his business address 1419 Walnut Street, Phil- 
adelphia. 



r^HARLES E. CATTELL was born in 

Darby. Pennsylvania, in 1859. He is vice 

president of the Hoopes, Brother and Thomas 

Company, of West Chester. Pa. He is a prom- 



iufiil nu-mb(.-i- of llic .Masonic 1' raternitx', and 
is also a mcndx-r of the Union Leagfue, Phila- 




CHARLES E. CA'Un-LL 

delphia; the I'hiladelphia Country Club, the 
Northfield L'ountry Club and the Seaview 
Country Club. He is a Republican in politics, 
and in religion an Ejuscopaliau. His residence 
address is 236 South Thirty-eighth Street, 
Philadelphia, and his business address, Stephen 
Girard Building. rhiladeli)hia. 



FR.WCIS j. MACDOXATJ) 

ALTH()U(ill the IMiiladelphia Ship Repair 
Com])anv has been in existence in this 
cit\' for onl\- a few years, it has become one 
of the most important shii)l)uilding adjuncts 
on the Delaware River, now unquestionably 
the greatest shipbuilding section in the world. 
Organization of the company followed a lug 
demand for a plant devoted exclusively to 
(|uick repair of damaged vessels — an institu- 



560 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



tion such as I'hiladelphia had never before 
boasted. Until the Phihidelphia Ship Repair 
Company inaugurated its big yards at the foot 
of Mifflin Street, there was no plant in this 
city that could take care of ship repair work 
of any magnitude. This class of work had to 
be done in New York and other eastern sea- 
board cities. 

The result was a virtual commercial "black- 
eye" for the port of Philadelphia. And it was 
in response to pleas from prominent commer- 
cial and financial interests that the company 
was organized and work started. At the out- 
set, floating docks were installed and the com- 
pany put in facilities for handling quickly all 
sorts of repair work. 

At the head of the company is Francis J- 
MacDonald, long recognized as one of the 
country's premier shipbuilders. He had pre- 
viously been secretary of the old Neafie & 
Levy shipyard, which has become absorbed in 
the Cramp Shipbuilding Corporation. Before 
that connection Mr. MacDonald was asso- 
ciated with the Newport News Shipbuilding 
Company. 

The Philadelphia Ship Repair Company has 
been a big factor in the country's shipbuilding 
program. Its officers and directors are all men 
of high conunercial standing. 

The company was organized in 1905. At the 
outset its equipment was modest and opera- 
tions were only on a small scale. There de- 
veloped an unusual demand for its services 
soon after the reputation of the new yards had 
l)ecome known to shipping men throughout 
the country, and in a short time the new com- 
pany had sufficient contracts under way to 
keep its plant busy twenty-four hours a day. 

With the increased demand came subse- 
quent needs for greater facilities at the plant. 
It was seen that because of the company's abil- 
ity to tackle any ship repair job there was 
need for a new floating dry dock in addition 
to the 1100-ton dock already in service. 

Accordingly, a second dock was constructed, 
with a capacity nearly three times that of the 
original dry dock. The company had only one 
pier at the start. Now it boasts of three that 



are as well-ecpiipped as any on the Atlantic 
seaboard. 

The compan}' maintains its own machine, 
carpenter and blacksmith shops and brass and 
iron foundries. 

It employes only the highest type of skilled 
labor — men who have reputations in the big 
eastern shipyards. 

The high-class of its workmen, augmented 
by its unusual physical equipment has made 
the Philadelphia Ship Repair Company one of 
the most completely equipped plants of its 
kind in the United States. 



WASHINGTON ATLEE BURPEE 

C( )M]', men are born to greatness and some 
men achieve it, and in like manner some 
are born to a success already made, wdiile oth- 
ers are born to make it. 

Among these in the City of Philadelphia 
who have moulded success out of opportunity, 
and wh(j had created that opportunity them- 
selves, few rank higher, or are held higher, 
in public esteeni that the late Washington 
Atlee Burpee, the subject of this sketch. 
Force of character, energy and ability of a high 
order, combined with an ever-present and ever 
persistent determination to succeed in all his 
undertakings, were, in l)rief, the paramount 
characteristics of this man amongst men and 
to their exercise is" due the creation and de- 
velopment of a business world wide in its 
operations and recognized as the foremost in 
its line in the world. 

Mr. Burpee was Ijorn in Sheffield, New 
Brunswick, April 5, 1858, and was son of David 
and Ann C. (Atlee) Burpee, and grandson of 
Dr. Washington L. Atlee, of Philadelphia. In 
early life he came wdth his' parents to Phila- 
delphia, where he received his education in the 
Friends' Central School and subsequently the 
University of Pennsylavnia. At the age of 
eighteen, that is to say in 1876, he began his 
life work, afterwards so signally successful, by 
embarking with two partners in the seed busi- 
ness'. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Mil 



Here he gained a riulinieiitary know ledi^e of 
tlie trade, and here ah-^o was de\eK)])ed tlie idea 
of its immense possil)ilities and the fertile lield 
of opportnnity and expansion whieh it in- 
volved. At the end of t\\(j }ears he retired 
from the partnership, resolved to start in hnsi- 
ness for himself and put to practical test tin- 
progressive ideas and theories whicli he had 
long entertained, but for which there was no 
o])i)ortunit}' of outlet. 

Jn such circumstances, and in conditions and 
en\ironments of the most decidedly modest 
and unassuming character the great mail order 
seed firm of A\\ Atlee Ijurpee and Company 
Avas established. 

i*"rom the start the business was a most de- 
cided success. The theories and ideas of Mr. 
Burpee's earlier experiences stood to the full- 
est extent the crucial ordeal of practice. 

Year after year his trade grew and expanded. 
The i)rinciple that a satisfied customer is the 
best ad\-ertisement was strictly and scru])U- 
lously adhered to, with the inevitable result 
that the name of the firm became insei)aral>l} 
associated with honor, commercial probit\- and 
absolute truthfulness and gained the confi- 
dence of the public, a confidence which is even 
more pronounced at the present dav. 

In the creation and evolution of such a gi- 
gantic business the factors of sound judgment, 
progressive ideas and pure and simple enter- 
jjrise were the ever present incentives, and ex- 
ercising these Mr. Burpee had the proud satis- 
faction of seeing his theories bear fruit and tlie 
undertaking wdiich he so modestly floated de- 
velop into a veritable monument to his genius. 
energy, enterprise and skill. W ith such a 
si)lendid edifice erected, with all his hopes and 
aspirations fulfilled, and with the conscious- 
ness that he had done his dut}' al)ly and well 
Mr. Burpee })assed to his eternal reward 
mourned by all wdio knew him and regarded 
by all as one of the most remarkal)le as well 
as one of the most successful men ever asso- 
ciated with the City of Philadelphia. 

Mr. Burpee was active in other associations 
also. He was at one time president of the 



.\nierican Seed Trade Association and was also 
president of tlu- American .Sweet I'ea Scjciety. 
He was vice-president of the National Sweet 
Pea Society of Creat Britain, and was a di- 
rector of the Wholesale .Seedmen's League. 

These \arious institutions were connected 
with the trade in wliich he was engaged, and 
he was also a director of the .Market Street 
National I'.ank and of the .\orthern Trust 
Comi)an\' of I *hiladel])hia. Hi' was ;in es- 
teemed mend)er of the I 'hih'idel])hia Clianiber 
of Commerce and of the I ']iila(lel]diia Board of 
Trade; was a trustee of the Howard Hospital, 
the .Sanatariuni Association and tlie \ati(jnal 
Farm Schcjol, and was an acti\c member in 
many social clubs (tf Philadel])]iia and New 
York. 




JOSHUA T. ROBEY 

IN Till-: early days of the eighteenth century 
a colony of immigrants from Holland and 
Central lun'ope came to this country and set- 
tled in ( lermantown. then a "neighboring vil- 



562 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



lage" of Philadelphia — now one of its most 
important suburbs. 

Some of these skillful and energetic work- 
men set up looms in their homes and the 
product turned out by the community gained 
a wide reputation. From this humble begin- 
ning the Philadelphia woolen goods industry 
has grown to be the greatest of any city in the 
country. 

As early as 1868, approximately one-fifth of 
the wool consumed in the United States was 
made up into worsted and woolen dress goods 
in Philadelphia. This advance in the indus- 
try has continued until this city's position in 
the textile industry has' become the center of 
the trade in America. 

To the aggressiveness and ability of the 
Kensington mill owners and the "go ahead" 
instinct of merchants representing various 
branches of the industry is due in large meas- 
ure the great reputation of this city as a tex- 
tile center. 

Among the worsted yarn merchants in 
Philadelphia there is' probably none of higher 
standing in the trade than Joshua Thomas 
Robey, of 232 Chestnut Street. Mr. Robey 
virtually "grew up" with the trade and is well 
known, not only in Philadeli)hia, Init through- 
out the country. 

Mr. Robey is a native New Yorker, but the 
greater part of his active life was spent in 
Philadel})hia. He was born in the metropolis 
in 1870. His father was Joshua Thomas 
Rol^ey and his mother Rel^ecca Adler. 

The career of Air. Robey in the textile trade 
began early in his life. He mastered virtually 
every branch of the l)ig industry and soon was 
known as one of the most expert men in his 
line of business in this city. Mr. Robey's 
education was obtained in the public schools 
and he delights always to tell of the value of 
the "little school house" as the "bulwark of 
the nation," from an educational standpoint. 

Mr. Robey was married in this city in 1898 
to ?\Tiss Katie M. Koons. They have one child 
— a daughter. A\'hile Mr. Robey has been a 
staunch Republican most of his active life, he 
has never taken a conspicuous part in politics. 



He was for three years a member of the old 
First Regiment, which recently carried off all 
sorts of high honors because of its great fight- 
ing abilities overseas. ■ 

Mr. Robey is a member of the Manufactur- 
ers' Club and the Spring Haven Golf Club. 
Golf is his chief recreation. He is active in 
Episcopal church circles and lives at 231 West 
\\'yoming Avenue, Germantown. 




I^RANK 11. TAYLOR, president of S. S. 
White Dental Manufacturing Company, 
Philadelijhia. is a striking example of the 
strenuous life to which a large measure of suc- 
cess has come. 

For over thirty-eight years his career has 
l)een an active one. Most of that time has been 
associated with Philadelphia, and during all of 
it l)e sustained, as he still sustains, the char- 
acter of a man of the loftiest ideals, of un- 
blemished integrity and of the highest sense 
of public and i)rivate duty. 

Such a man has invariably many friends and 
a host of admirers, and in this respect the case 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



563 



of Mr. 'J'aylur forms' tlie pure and simple ruU'S 
and not an isolated exception. In business 
matters he is keen and alert, strictly honorable 
in the broadest sense of the word, and abso- 
lutely without reproach in his prixate or scjcial 
relations. 

Mr. Taylor is a ])roduct of the lUickeye 
State, having l)een bcjrn in Cincinnati, Novem- 
ber 20, 1855. lie received his early educatic^n 
in the public schools and later attended 1 laver- 
ford College, Pennsylvania, from which he 
graduated in 1876, l)earing off the degree of 
lUichelor of Arts'. He then entered Harvard 
Universit}-, where he secured a similar degree. 
After graduation he spent time at the work 
bench learning a trade and then started his 
business career as sui)erintendent of the starch 
works of George Fox Starch Company, in Cin- 
cinnati. He remained about a year and then, 
in 1882, came to Philadelphia as principal 
owner and manager of the Belmont Iron Com- 
pany, engaged in ornamental iron and struc- 
tural steel work. For six years he was ac- 
tively engaged in this l)usiness, and had built 
up a large trade when, in 1888, the plant was 
destroyed. 

From 1888 to 1890 Mr. Ta^'lor was engaged 
in liquidation of the ccjmpany, and also in the 
ex])loiting of a patented machine in the print- 
ing held. In 1890 he became manager of the 
Philadelphia l)ranch house of the Yale and 
Town Manufacturing Company, at 1120 Mar- 
ket Street. He continued here for nine }ears 
and then, that is to say in 1899, became asso- 
ciated with the AW^stinghouse Electrical and 
Manufacturing Company, at Pittsburgh. 

Three of the nine years he spent with the 
corporation were devoted to the exacting du- 
ties of sales manager; during the following 
three years he occupied the position of foin"tli 
vice-president and in the last three }'ears of 
his connection Avith the great hrm he was 
senior vice-president. He was also a director 
of the company until 1^H)8. 

In 1906 Mr. l^aylor l)ecame \-ice-])resident 
of the Yale and Towne Manufacturing Com- 
pany, in Xew York, and retained this respons- 
ible position for two years. 



l-"rom 1909 until 1915 he was general man- 
ager of the Linotype and Machinery Company, 
Limited, of London, and in the latter year ac- 
cepted the position with the S. S. White 
1 )ental .Ahmufaeturing ( oni])any. which he still 
retains and the duties of whicii he discharges 
with all the remarkable efficiency and success 
that ha\'e hitherto crow ne(l his arduous and 
exacting life eftorts. 

-Mr. Taylor was maiTied .XLarch ol. bSSO, to 
kebecca M. Nicholson, and his residence ad- 
dress is 80U) Seminole .\ venue. Philadelphia. 




1. I A' AN T.WLOR 

Service estab- 



npllb: story of the Investor^ 

lished in Philadeli)hia in 1910. under the 
name of LI. l-A'an Taxlor. incorporated in 19LS 



564 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



and conil)inecl with the only other concern in 
the workl selling securities in the same way — 
The In\estnient Registry, Limited, of London 
— is hard to write. It started with an idea 
and $250. The latter belong to Mr. Tay- 
lor ; the former was the emanation of his 
brain, and both combined formed the founda- 
tion stone upon which the Investment Regis- 
try of America. Incorporated, is so substan- 
tially built. 

The methods of the Investment Registry of 
America are unicjue and original, and are in 
point of fact, simplicity reduced to a science. 
To this fact, perhaps, more than to any other, 
is due the splendid success of the corporation 
and incidentally the deservedly high estima- 
tion in which it is held by investors. 

The firm buys, s'ells and trades in bonds of 
all kinds on the customer's order only. It in- 
vestigates any and all issues of bonds desired, 
and this investigation is rendered the more 
marked and the more trustworthy by the fact 
that it does not own any of these bonds'. The 
great element and factor of strict impartiality 
is thus disclosed and the confidence of invest- 
ors strengthened. The firm also arranges 
trades, builds up and scientifically groups in- 
vestors' lists of holdings and acts in the ca- 
pacity of financial secretary and adviser. 
Impartiality is the keynote of the corporation's 
l)olicy and this impartiality is accentuated by 
the fact that it does not own bonds. 

Investigation before purchase is another of 
its strong points, and these two alone suffice 
to afford to the prospective investor not only 
all the information and details that he needs, 
but all the protection which he requires or can 
expect. 

H. Evan Taylor, the originator of the idea 
and its practical proponent, is a Georgian by 
l)irth, having been born in the city of Sa- 
vannah, October 2c), 1879. His father was 
Henry J. Taylor, and before her marriage his 
mother was ]\Iiss Leontine C. Bosdevex. He 
received a private education in the city of his 
birth but later pursued a course in Electrical 
Engineering in the Spring Garden Institute, 



Philadelphia. This did not. however, ajjpeal 
to him as a life work, so he began a financial 
career at seventeen and has been at it ever 
since. 

He is now president of the flourishing and 
highlv esteemed institution which his original 
idea and his' $250 called into being, and also 
president of the Philadelphia h^oundation and 
vice-president of the American Chemical Paint 
Company. 

Mr. Taylor is trustee of the Rush Hospital 
of Philadelphia but is not connected with any 
other such organization. 

His chief recreation is field shooting, and his 
clubs are the Racquet and Country, both of 
Philadelphia. 

He is a Republican in politics and in religion 
is an Episcopalian. He was married in Phila- 
delphia, December 3, 1907, to Catherine Mur- 
ray Spencer, and has one daughter. 

His' residence address is 2211 St. James 
Place, Philadelphia, and his office address 
Morris Building, Philadelphia. 

THE LATE 
CHARLES H. KERSHAW 

TN SPEAKING of the late Charles H. Ker- 
shaw one is struck by the fact that probably 
not one in a thousand of the tens of thousands 
of American soldiers who owed their lives to 
their gas masks, know that the indispensable 
article inside that mask, the cloth for the respi- 
rator, was made by the late Charles H. 
Kershaw. 

The John ^^^ Kershaw Company, manufac- 
turers of Turkish towels, supidied all the gas 
masks used by Uncle Sam with these neces- 
sarv cloths. At the beginning of the war this 
firm ol)tained the contract for the making of 
the respirator material from the government. 
It was the character of Charles H. Kershaw 
which was mainly responsible for the firm's 
high position in their chosen field. Although 
only thirty years old when he died he dis- 
played the zeal and attention to business which 
is commonly seen in men only when they have 
passed their prime. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



565 



After leaving public school he joined his are. as a matter of general knnwiedge, the ft)re- 
father in business, lie was then seventeen. most in their line anywhere in the world. 
Though not of a robust constitution he, not- 
withstanding occasional spells of sickness, re- 
fused to leave his business for a day, so that 
not for one day in his business career was he 
away from his office thrciughout the years of 
his life as a manufacturer. 

( )f an extremeh- amial)le character he was 
greatlv lamented by a multitude of friends, 
both social and lousiness, when he died of pneu- 
monia, after an illness of ten days, on ( )ctober 
6. 1918. 

He left a widow. ^Irs. Margaret Saylor Ker- 
shaw. He was', to ({uote her own A\ords. "a 
wtmderful husl)and and an intensely devoted 
father." 

His children are Robert Arnold, born .\u- 
gust 20. 1918, and Charles William, born Ma\ 
17, 1914. 



GEORGE H. KOCHERSBKRGER 

POR many years' the words "shipbuilding" 
and "Cramps" have been synonymous. 
Whenever there has been any reference to the 
building of shii)S. whether for the line of bat- 
tle or for the merchant marine, the William 
Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine lUiilding Com- 
panv, of Philadelphia, has always come in for 
its share of attention. 

The reason? The Cramp concern is the old- 
est shipbuilding company in America and 
probably the best-known organization of its 
sort in the world. Its great yards' along the 
Delaware River have been the center for more 
than half a century of the shipbuilding ]iro- 
gram of America. And many of the navies ot 
the world have been constructed entirely at 
the Cram]) yards. 

It was the Cramp company that led to the 
reference to the Delaware River as the "Clyde 
of America." There have been more ships 
turned out in the Cramp yards than in any 
other establishment in the world. 

And l)v the same token, the officers and 
workmen who have made this record possible 




(\v.( )R(;i': 11. K( )Ciii':Rsr.i-:K(,i-'.k 

Among those to whom a large share of 
credit is given for the great success of the 
Cramp yards is Ceorge 11. Kochersberger. as- 
sistant superintendent of the yards. Mr. 
Kt)chersl)erger knows ships from stem to stern, 
lie is one of the best informed ship construc- 
tionists in America. His knowledge of ships 
has been attained not only through technical 
channels, but by years of actual experience in 
and about the big Cramp yards. 

it has for years' been the policy of the Cramp 
companv to lit into important positions at the 
yards capable men who have risen from the 
ranks of the workers rather than those tech- 
nically trained in ship construction. 

And in Mr. Kochersberger- the corporation 
has in its service an expert who is familiar 
with every branch of the industry through a 
knowledge obtained I)v hard work and persis- 



566 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



tent application to the "job" in virtually every 
branch of the shipbuilding industry. He's 
been in every dei)artment of the great yards, 
where he started as a shipworker, and like 
dad, "he knows." 




WILLIAM ELY BATES 

AMONG the many notable men identified 
with the insurance business in Philadel- 
])hia, William Ely Bates holds a deservedly 
high and deservedly prominent place. An 
association of thirty-three years with such 
business has rendered him complete master of 
its every detail, and there is no man of his busi- 
ness colleagues in the Quaker City whose 
judgment is sui)erior to his all in all matters 
relating to the important life work in which 
he is engaged. Nor is his poi>ularity on a 
lesser plane than his judgment. He and the 
institution of which he is the representative 
are known to a wide and ever increasing num- 
ber of patrons, l)y each of whom he is much 
respected and sincerely esteemed. 



^Ir. Bates was born in Cape May, N. J., 
July 17, 1868, and is the son of Joseph William 
and Elizabeth (Smith) Bates. He received his 
l)rimary education in the Rugby Academy and 
the Penn Charter School, from which latter in- 
stitution he graduated with honors. 

In 1885, at the age of seventeen, he entered 
the insurance office of his grandfather, Atwood 
Smith, then general agent of the world-known 
Liverpool. London and Globe Insurance Com- 
pany. 

After mastering the business in all its essen- 
tial and minute details, his promotion naturally 
followed and ultimately he was appointed local 
manager of the corporation, a position he now 
holds. 

He is also president of the Eire Insurance 
Patrol. 

Eor some }'ears he was associated with the 
Eirst Troop of Philadelphia City Cavalry. He 
joined as a private in 1888 and was promoted 
to Eirst Lieutenant in 1910. 

Mr. Bates' clul)s are the Raccpiet, the Phila- 
delphia Barge and the Downtown, all of Phila- 
delphia, and he is also a memlier of the Fire 
Insurance Society of Philadelphia. 

His business address is 331-37 Walnut 
Street, Philadelphia. 



DA\TD L. SHORT 

"pLECTRICITY as a public servant made its 
initial bow in Philadeli)hia during the Cen- 
tennial Exhibition, in 1876. Philadelphia firms 
have figured extensively in its development in 
the last half-century. Today Philadelphia 
manufacturers of electrical appliances are 
known in virtually every corner of the globe. 

The Electric Curling Iron Company manu- 
factures a specialized electric appliance that 
is conceded to be one of the most effective as 
well as one of the most servicable instruments 
of electrical equipment that is a virtual neces- 
sity today in the homes of women who con- 
sider an efficient labor-saving device as a 
necessary part of their boudoir equipment. 

This company, headed by David L. Short, 
one of the best known electrical equipment ex- 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



567 



j)crts in this city, specializes in the manufac- 
ture of an electric curlin_<;- iron \\hich is con- 
ceded to l)e the "last word" in its line. I'opu- 
laritv of the ])roduct is so widespread that its 
plant is kej)t running continuously to kei'p up 
with the demand for the iron. Women re- 
gard it as one ol the "indispensables" in tlie 
make-uj) of their toilet e(pn[)ment and sales 
of the ajjparatus ha\e kept pace Avith the 
marked growth now ap[)arcnt in the use of 
things electrical. 

"The American woman," said Mr. .Sliort in 
discussing the product of his plant, "is con- 
sidered the best dressed as well as the l^est- 
toiletted of any ct)untr}' in the A\orld. And, in 
consequence, they demand the very best there 
is in the way of ec|uipment necessary to main- 
tain this reputation. T'dectrically speaking, it 
is an undisputed fact that, aside from the big 
dynamos that whirl the wheels of industrial 
progress, there is on the boudoir of the average 
American woman more electrical labor-saving 
and efficient devices than anywhere outside the 
l)ig industrial plants. 

"The electric curling iron is an excellent ex- 
ample of the fact that American women appre- 
ciate what's best in the matter of l)Oudoir 
equipment. Our plant is kept continuously at 
work meeting the demand for this new prod- 
uct. Jt has a ready sale everywhere. The fact 
that it is manufactured in Philadelphia is evi- 
dence of this city's popularity as an electrical 
supply center. 

"It is common knowledge that the hrst elec- 
trical exposition in America was held here 
under the co-operation of the Franklin Insti- 
tute and the federal government. .A teacher 
in the University of Pennsylvania made the 
first arc light a success, commercially, and he 
saw the dynamo he perfected light the streets 
and large buildings of almost every city in 
America. The first electric trolley car was 
built here and in all the development of elec- 
trical countrivances throughout the country 
Philadelphia capital and Philadelphia men 
have been the leaders." 

The plant of the company is located at Han- 
cock Street and Columbia Avenue. 



I.\ M [•:.M( )klAM 




JOHN THOMAS DYER 

"Uh: C.AR\'Er) a fortune from honest toil 
and enshrined his name in honest en- 
deavor," might well form an appropriate epi- 
taph for the late John Thomas Dyer. Xo fa- 
vorite of fortune and with no enxinmnients of 
wealth, he started what was destined to be a 
strenuous and a useful life in his native State 
of P^ennsylvania a few years after the Civil 
W^v, and having done his duty worthily and 
well, departed this life esteemed by all who 
knew him and lea\-ing behind a name and a 
reputation of wdiich any citizen of the common- 
wealth might well fee! justly proud. 

Mr. Dyer was born in Lehigh County, Penn- 
svhania, on .\pril H>. 1S4(S. His ancestors 
were luiglish and some were of that 
quaint and sturdy stock of Quakers 
identified with Pennsyhania since the days 
of ^^'illiam Penn. His parents were Richard 
H. Dyer and Caroline (Hoffman) Dyer and 



568 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



each came uf a family long known and highly 
esteemed in the country and district. Born on 
a farm, Mr. Dyer's education was rather in 
the school of experience than in the red brick 
schoolhouse, yet he received an education in 
the latter sound enough and extensive enough 
to meet all the needs and recjuirements of his 
future life. 

Mr. Dyer l^egan his battle of life at an earl}' 
age. His initial step was as clerk in a store at 
Slatington. This comparatively uneventful 
and inactive life did not appeal to him. He 
cra\'ed for physical action and in quest of this 
resigned his' clerkship and \\ent to work in a 
quarry. Here he had i)lent}' of work that 
called into l)lay his muscular energies, but he 
was not quite satisfied. 

His ambition was apjK'aled to and excited. 
He felt that the limited en\-ironments of a 
stone quarr}- were not the proper held for his 
energies. He longed for something higher, 
something that promised more immediate and 
better results and animated by this' spirit, and 
b}- the resolution evolved from it, he entered 
the sphere of "railroading," tirst as foreman of 
a gang and next as contractor on a necessarily 
limited scale. 

Those were the days of "ups and downs," as 
he was wont to term them in after life. ( )cca- 
sionally his men "went back on him," and 
often reverses that might have daunted a less 
brave and determined man were the sole prod- 
uct of his plans and his toil. He was his o\\n 
blacksmith, sharj^ened all the tools used b}' his 
men and generally superintended their work. 
His hrst large piece of work was the Iniilding 
of the West Shore Railroad, and afterward he 
constructed part of the Schuylkill X'alley 
l)ranch of the Pennsyhania Railroad. 

He also constructed sections at West Laurel 
Hill, Spring Mills, Conshohocken, Landing- 
ville, Howellville, h'ort A\'ashington and many 
other places, and had the contract for the con- 
struction of the lines from Rambo station to 
Bluebell, including the elevation of the liridge 
over the Schuvlkill River. 



Mr. Dyer was inspector of the Montgomery 
County prison, president of the Borough ITec- 
tric Light Compan\-, and president of the John 
1\ Dyer Company, the Merchant Ice Company, 
the Wyoming Spinning Company, the Mont- 
gomery subway, the Block and Tile Paving 
Company, and the J. H. Brenlinger Dry (ioods 
Com])any. The latter of which he resigned. 

He was also a director of Ramo and Regar 
Stocking Company, R. S. Newbold Sons and 
Company, the Montgomery County National 
liank, (Gloucester Paper Mills, Chelsea Land 
Lnprovement Company, Banker Mining and 
Tunnel Company of Colorado, and of other 
large cori)orations. 

His quarries now operate three great plants: 
the Trap-Rock at Birdsboro, Clenyon, above 
Burcksen. and one at Locksley, near West 
Chester. 

Mr. Dyer was married on Decemlier IL 1879, 
to the daughter of Dr. Cornelius S. Baker, of 
Xorristown. 

lie had six children, five of wdiom are liv- 
ing, Elsie B., Caroline H., Frederick E., Will- 
iam (iordon, John V.. and Marion B. 



JOHX FISLER 

l^(_)R many }ears, if anybody wanted to know 
anything about the Manufacturers' Club, 
the stock reply to most any cjuestion vou might 
ask would be, "Ask John Fisler." 

Mr. Eisler is one of the "fathers" of this 
internationally known institution of Philadel- 
phia's most prominent business men. He is a 
member of the Board of Directors and was 
chairman of the House Committee for seven 
years;. He resigned the latter position about 
two weeks after the 1918 annual election. 

Mr. Eisler presided over the destinies of the 
Manufacturers' Club when it w'as housed in 
its original Iniilding in AX'alnut Street, west of 
of Broad Street. He directed its operation 
during its temporary occupation of a house in 
AValnut Street while the great new building 
at the corner of Broad and W^alnut Streets was 
under construction, and it was largely through 



THE STORY OF Til ILADELPHIA 



569 



his i»orsistcnt actixitics in hchalf of llu- organ- 
ization that it s^ot its start in its ])rc'scnl (|uar- 
ters. And the clul) is one of the most ])ros- 
perous institutions in tlie citw 

Mr. I'isler is \ice-])resi(lent of the Alannfae 
turers' Cluh. h\)r tlie last eii;ht years and a 
lialf he has' l)een connected with the manufac- 
turing comniunit}" as a member of one tif tlie 
largest incorporated lirms in the L'nited States 
engaged in the worsted industr\ . 

Mr. Fislcr is treasurer of the \'e\\(Udl- |ones 
Company, whose spinning mills in the old 
lUockley section of West Phila(lel])hia form 
one of the city's landmarks. Ilefore entering 
the Yewdell-Jones corporation Mr. h'isler was 
tor many years a representative lousiness man 
in the wholesale wool district of lower Chest- 
nut Street. He was a member of the firm of 
b'isler, Keyser & Co. 

Uorn in the old neighborhood of I'road and 
Race Streets he was educated in the public 
schools' of the city and started life in the whole- 
sale wool trade, with which he was identified 
uj) to the date of his entering the worsted 
manufacturing industry, lie has l)een a resi- 
dent of West Philadelphia for thirt\-fi\e years 
and is widely known in the residential com- 
munity here. 

The Yewdell-Jones plant is unicpie in the re- 
spect that its location is so far removed from 
the district in wdiich all the other great spin- 
ning industries are situated. The mills were 
fotmded in lUockley more than sixty _\-ears ago 
by Samtiel, John and William Yewdell. three 
brothers from Bradford. England, then, as 
now, the world's center for the manufacture of 
worsteds. The introduction of French combs 
and the large use today of American manufac- 
ture has placed the worsted spinning industr_\- 
in the United States on a i)lane of uncjues- 
tioned equalitv with the ])roducts of foreign 
manufacture. 

As a manufacturer Mr. iMsler is secretar}- of 
the W^orsted Spinners' .Association of Philadel- 
phia, a body which represents the largest ter- 
ritory of worsted manufacttire in the United 
States. 



Ill' i> a mnnlirr of the (\{\ Plub and the 
lamilton W hi>t Clul). 




JOHN W. I'.MSLI'A' 

Y^IRTCAPIA' e\-ery t\pe of manufactured 
jiroduct made in the Cnited States is 
manufacttnu'd in riiiladclphia — to some extent 
at least. 

Most of the industries that have grown to 
national importance were fostered and de- 
\elo])ed in Philadcdphia. many of these indus- 
tries dating from the \ ery beginning of this 
citx's histor}'. 

Among these the textile industry possibly 
stands out more ])rominently than most any 
other. .\nd among the textiles, yarns — 
woolen, worsted and cotton — ln)ld a conspicu- 
ous place, the industry representing here an 
investment of many millions of dollars. 

Chief among the yarn manufacturers who 
ha\e made for this cit\- a name in the textiU' 



570 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



field wliich stand pre-eminently at the fore- 
front of the industry in this country is John 
W. Emsley. 

]\Ir. Emsley is a Phila(leli)hian and a "tex- 
tile man." The combination spells success. 
He was born in this city back in 18/2 and he's 
been here virtually all of his life. In Ken- 
sington, the heart of the textile industry, he's 
referred to affectionately by manufacturers 
and workers alike. 

It is doubtful if there ever was a time when 
Mr. lunslev was not in the textile business. 
He started in "the game" when a youngster 
and has been at it consistently for years. His 
mills at Emerald and Adams' Streets, are 
known to virtually every textile worker wdio 
regards working conditions in the plant as 
among the most attractive in the great textile 
district. 

Mr. Emsley got his early education in the 
pul)lic schools of this city. Erom them he 
graduated into textiles. His father was Will- 
iam Emslev, also well known in the northeast 
section of the city. He married Miss' Mary 
A. Morgan. 

For years ^Slr. lunsley has been always a 
consistent Republican, and has been active in 
support of protective measures designed to 
help b(jth manufacturers and textile workers. 
He is a prominent Mason. 



T 



(J ISADORh: STE.RN, former member of 
the Pennsylvania Eegislature, belongs the 
credit for having exposed unhealthy political 
conditions in the Eifth Ward which has since 
resulted in a comjdete overthrow^ of police con- 
ditions in the southern section of the city. 

Mr. Stern is one of Philadelphia's most con- 
spicuous fighters for civic decency. While in 
the State Legislature he was the author of 
numerous measures designed to uplift Phila- 
delphia's moral and civic conditions. He has 
been for years a persistent fighter for the 
"square deal" in politics. 

Mr. Stern is a lawyer and was mentioned 
prominently for a place on the ^Municipal 
Court bench. He was practicing law in this 



city before he was twenty-one years old and 
has argued and won important cases in virt- 
ually every court in Pennsylvania — from the 
magistrate's courts in Philadeli)hia to the State 
Supreme Court. He has a record for having 
won numerous cases involving constitutional 
questions. 





ISADoRb: STb:RN 

Mr. Stern was born in Philadelphia in 1881, 
the son of AX'illiam Stern and Rose Hartmann. 
He was educated in the public schools in this 
city and received his LL.B. from the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania in 1902. He was also 
granted a "special certificate" by the Wharton 
School. He was admitted to the Bar in this 
city in 1902 and has since been in active prac- 
tice here, being associated with Harry A. 
Mackey, head of the Workmen's Compensation 
Board in this State. 

Mr. Stern is' vitally interested in Jewish 
welfare work and is a member of virtually all 
of the Jewish benevolent and philanthropic 
societies of importance. He is also a Knight 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



571 



of I'ytliias, a Alasou aiul is a iiU'iuhtT of llu- 
Moose organization, tin- I 'en and IV-ncil Clnb 
and the Foresters of Anu-rica. Mr. Stern is 
also a member of the Hoard of Law I'"xaminers 
in this cit}'. 

]n 1905 Air. Stern married Sarah hdlis. 
'Jdie\' have two eln'ldren. 



JOHN FREDERICK LEWIS is one of the 
ablest men at the Philadelphia Uar, and 
pr()])abl}- the most \'ersatile. lie is associated 
with a multiplicity of interests and enter])rises 
as diversihed in their scope and character as 
they are numerous, and is as entirely familiar 
Avith the details and ramifications of each as if 
that alone were his sole business in life. As an 
admiralty lawyer he is unexcelled in the United 
States and in other vocations of his truly stren- 
uous life he has few peers for energy, ability, 
mastery of detail or general information. He 
is, in fact, a man in a thousand and Philadel- 
phia is proud of the fact, and of him. 

Mr. Lewis was born in Philadelj)hia, Sep- 
tember 10, 1860, the son of S. Wan and Caro- 
line A. (Kalbfus) Lewis. He graduated from 
the Central High School of Philadelphia with 
the highest honors, securing the degree of 
Bachelor of Arts in 1879 and that of Master 
of Arts' in 1884. After leaving the high school 
he studied law in the office of Hon. George M. 
Dallas, then one of the foremost and best 
known lawyers at the Philadelphia Bar. He 
was admitted to the Bar of Philadelphia in 
1882, and practiced with Hon. Charles Gibbon 
and Son in the courts of admiralty and more 
recentlv in the common law courts as Lewis, 
Adler and Laws, establishing a rejnUation 
nation-wide in its extent. 

Of ]\lr. Lewis' versatility ruul grasp of things 
in general an indication is given by the num- 
ber of associations and institutions with which 
he is intimately and actively connected. He is 
a United States Commissioner, an office which, 
in itself, demands his time and attention to a 
large extent. Then he is director of the h^arm- 
ers' and [Mechanics' National ]>ank of Phila- 
delphia ; solicitor of the Philadelphia Bourse 



and the Philadelphia Maritime Exchange; 
member of the Law .\ssociati(jn of Philadel- 
phia and of tile American F.ar Association; 
president of the Pennsylvania Academy of the 
iMne Arts and a collector of prints and early 
American portraits; president of the Mercan- 
tile Library Company of Philadelphia, of the 
Young American Humane Union, of the Hu- 
mane Society and (jf the Skating Club; vice- 
president and member of the Council of the 
Historical Society of Pennsylvania; vice-presi- 
dent of the (ienealogical S(jciety of Pennsyl- 
vania; director of the Metropolitan Opera 
House Company of Philadeljjhia ; lecturer on 
admiralty law at the Law School of the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania; solicitor of the North- 
ern Home for Friendless Children ; secretary 
of the Pennsylvania Instituticjii for the Deaf 
and Dumb; member of the Philadeli)hia Board 
of Trade and of the Commercial Exchange of 
Philadel])hia ; meml)er of tlie American Philo- 
sophical Society; member of the Art Jury of 
Philadelphia; member of the Comprehensive 
Plans Committee of Philadelphia; president 
of the Pennsylvania Library Club ; member of 
the Franklin Institute ; member of the Numis- 
matic and Anticpiarian Society of Pennsyl- 
vania; vice-president of the Philol)iblon Club; 
member of the Farmers' Club of Chester 
County, Pa., and owner and manager of one 
of the largest dairy farms in Chester County. 
He is also an active member of the Philadel- 
phia Country Club and of the Merion Cricket 
Clul). 

During the war with Germany Air. Lewis 
offered his services to the government and he 
was appointed chief of Section No. 2 of the 
United States Shipping Board Recruiting 
Service, in charge of all of its navigation and 
marine engineering schools from Connecticut 
River to Cape Charles. He was also a lecturer 
for the government on the merchant marine, 
on which subject he was considered one of the 
highest authorities. Despite the pressure of 
his law business and the numerous other ac- 
tivities that occupied his attention, Mr. Lewis 
devoted much time and energy to the govern- 
ment work and his almost unceasing elTorts in 



572 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



this direction placed the recruiting district 
over which he had control in the lead in sup- 
plying officers and men for the new merchant 
marine and won for him the unqualified ap- 
proval of the authorities in Washington. He 
was married in Philadelphia May 23. 1895, to 
Anne H. Rush liaker, daughter of Alfred G 
and Henrietta Rush ( Fales ) Haker. His resi- 
dence in winter is 1914 Spruce Street, Phila- 
del})hia. and in summer Morstein, Chester 
Countw I 'a. His office address is 108 South 
h'ciurth Street, Philadelphia. 




GEORCP D. VAN SCIVER 

T.\ THl*'. l)uilding material business prtjhably 
no one stands higher, or is better known 
than (ieorge D. \'an Sciver, who, after years of 
hard work, honest dealing, and fair treatment, 
oi)erates three of the largest plants for produc- 
ing and distributing building materials in this 
section of the country. 

During ^Ir. Van Sciver's business career it 
has alwavs been his sole aim to render the best 



serx'ice and maintain a standard qualit}' which 
would, beyond an}' doubt, warrant patronage. 
W ith these two oljjects always in mind, and 
the executive ability to surround himself with 
competent and loyal workers, he is today 
])resident of the Hainesport Mining and Trans- 
portation Company, the De Frain Sand Com- 
pan\' and the Knickerbocker Lime Company. 
.Mr. \ an Sciver, originally a native of 
Hainesport, New Jersey, now resides at Chest- 
nut Hill, IMiiladelphia, closely located to the 
Stenton Country Club, where he enjoys his 
principal recreation, that of i)laying golf. He 
is also a member of the ]vlanufacturers' Club, 
i'^ngineers' Clul), City Club and an active mem- 
ber of the Central Trust Company, Camden, 
New Ierse\-. 



HON. REUPEN O. ^[0( )N 

**T HAVE just signed the bill making law the 
new judicial code. This is a most impor- 
tant measure. It is the result of the hardest 
work on the part of yourself and your col- 
leagues of the joint committee for the revision 
of the law. lA'ery lawyer, every judge and 
e\er}- citizen ought to feel deeply grateful to 
\-ou and t(j them for this reform. But for your 
patience, persistence and parliamentary ex- 
perience and knowledge of the law \^ would 
ha\e been impossible. Accept ni}- gratitude 
and congratulations." 

This letter of public appreciation and of per- 
sonal gratitude was written by William How- 
ard Taft, then President of the United States, 
to Hon. Reuben Osborn Moon, then Repre- 
sentative of the Fourth District of Pennsyl- 
vania in the Congress of the United States. 
The measure to which it referred was the 
judiciary bill, which lawyers regard as the 
most important piece of legislation enacted 
within fifty years. Nor were the terms of that 
luiique testimony to the ability, skill and per- 
severance of Mr. Moon overdrawn in the 
slightest particular. ( )n the contrary, lauda- 
tory and appreciative as they were, they failed 
to sum up the extent or character of Mr. 
Moon's efforts, or measure the extent to which 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



n / .s 



the jiulici;ir\', the Ici^al prok'ssion and the pub- 
lic arc undiT dljlii'ation lo liini. l-dr ncarh' 




HON. REUBEN O. MOON 

two years Mr. Moon had given the closest pos- 
sible attention to the bill. His intimate and 
exhaustive knowledge of law, his i)eculiar fac- 
ulty of research and condensation and his ap- 
titude in eliminating from consideration all 
statutes that had no direct or little indirect 
bearing in the process of review and of adaj)- 
tation, helped most materially in the gigantic 
undertaking upon which he had entered and 
led to its successful consummation even in the 
face of many difficulties, many discourage- 
ments and obstacles as irritating a s they were 
innumerable. 

For ten consecutive days Mr. Moon occu- 
pied the floor of the house, while the bill was 
being discussed. Efiforts were made to intro- 
duce labor injunction provisions; provision to 
legalize the secondary boycott, and many oth- 
ers, but all were defeated, owing to Mr. Moon's 



alertness and skill in debate, and the measure 
so highly hauled by f(jrmer I'l-esident Taft. 
linally ])assed. That measure made important 
and necessar}- reforms in the old judicial act 
of 178<^^ and established a system which has the 
absolute approxal of the most eminent jurists 
in the United States as well as the unciualilied 
endorsement of the members of tlie Bar. 

.Mr. .Moon was also the author of the new 
U. .S. I'enal Uode which was passed in 1909 
and which, for the first time, gave to the U. S. 
a complete code of laws 1)\- which offenses 
against the U. .S. could be punished without 
relying u])on the laws of the various States, 
which were entirely inadequate for that pur- 
l)ose. In the condtict of this bill through the 
House Mr. Moon occupied the time of the 
House for fifteen consecutive days and pro- 
tected the Legislature from many amendments 
which would have destroyed its efficiency. 

The distincti\e feature of the new judicial 
Code which was adopted in 1911 was the elimi- 
nation of the Circuit Court — this court was the 
central feature of the old judicial system btit 
in the ra|)id development of the Federal law 
and of the business of the courts had outli\ed 
its usefulness and had become an (jbstruction. 
This change was bitterly oj^posed by many 
])rominent lawyers and by the American Bar 
Association, but was carried into the new law 
and has since received the uncitialified appro- 
bation of the Bench and Bar of the country. 

In presenting the bill to the House of Repre- 
sentatives from the joint committee on re- 
\ision of the laws, !\lr. Moon delivered an 
address, which was a most remarkable com- 
bination of forensic eloquence, legal erudition 
and historic research. 

Tracing the evolution of civil law from the 
Mosaic code and the days of the ancient civil- 
ization to the present time, he dwelt ujKjn each 
l^hase of the great moral structure upon which 
the fabric of social order rests in such a man- 
ner as to divest his subject of all legal ter- 
minologies and made it not only most decid- 
edlv interesting but most attractively instruc- 
tive. 



574 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



This address, which in itself stamped Mr. 
j\Ioon as an orator of signal persuasiveness 
and consummate rhetorical skill, was received 
by the House with frequent outbursts of ap- 
])Iause and under the caption of ''A Brilliant 
Treatment of a Dry Subject" the New York- 
Sun devoted nearly a column of space to pure 
and simple laudation of it. 

Such testimony of editorial appreciation of 
the matter of Mr. Moon's address and the man- 
ner in which it was delivered was both un- 
usual and remarkable, but it was more than 
justified in every respect. 

It was a capital effort in its every feature, 
and contributed to overcome much of the op- 
position that had developed against the meas- 
ure and convert some of its most pronounced 
opponents into its warmest and most earnest 
supporters. 

Mr. Moon, the author of these bills, was 
l)orn in Burlington County, New Jersey, July 
22, 1847, and is representative of one of the 
oldest families in the State of Pennsylvania. 
The first American ancestors of the family 
came over with William Penn and settled in 
l^enn Manor, in the Keystone State. The de- 
scendants of those pioneers in the infant col- 
ony occupied many important positions and 
were always recognized among the foremost, 
l)est trusted, and most highly esteemed leaders. 
( )ne of the earliest judges of the State for in- 
stance was' John Moon, direct aiicester of the 
subject of this sketch, while Reul^en O. Moon's 
father. Aaron ^loon. A\as one of the most suc- 
cessful teachers in the State of New Jersey. 

]\Ir. Moon was educated under his father's 
instruction and later attended a college in 
Penns}-lvania. from which he graduated with 
high honors in 1874. Later he taught school 
and subsequentl}- Ijecame professor in the Na- 
tional School of Elocution and Oratory in 
Philadelphia. Here he l)ecame widely known 
as an eloquent pul^lic lecturer, and his repu- 
tation in this respect spread all over the United 
States. Applying himself closely and zeal- 
ouslv to the study of law. he was admitted to 
the Bar in 1884. 

In a comparatively short time he was recog- 
nized as one of the most brilliant and success- 



ful lawyers in the Quaker City, and with the 
growth and extent of a high reputation came 
the corresponding increase in his practice. In 
1886 he was admitted to practice in the Su- 
])reme Courts of the State and four years later 
to the United States Courts. 

In 1903 Mr. Moon, who is a Republican in 
politics, was elected Representative to Con- 
gress from the Fourth District of Pennsyl- 
vania, and was re-elected to the Fifty-ninth 
and Sixtieth Congresses, when he retired. 

During his Congressional career, which was 
an active one from the start, Mr. Moon was 
made chairman of the important committee on 
the Revision of Laws and a leading member 
of the Judiciary Committee and was author of 
more constructive legal legislation than any 
other man within fifty years. 

Mr. Moon is attorney for many large cor- 
porations and his fame as a lawyer, lecturer 
and after-dinner speaker is nation-wide. He 
was, at one time, president of the well-known 
Columbia Club, and is a prominent member of 
the Union League of Philadelphia, of the 
Lawyer's Club, of the Penn Club, of the His- 
torical Society and of several other organiza- 
tions. 

He was married in 1876 to Mary Predmore, 
of Barnegat. N. J., and has two children, a son, 
Harold P., a graduate of the Law School of the 
University of Pennsylvania, and a well known 
member of the Junior Bar of the city, and a 
daughter. Mallei M., who is the wife of Clar- 
ence A. Musselman, a i)r()minent l)usiness man 
of Philadelphia. 

Mr. Moon's residence address is the Belle- 
vue-Stratford Hotel, Philadelphia, and his 
office address 405 Pennsylvania Building, 
Philadelphia. 



^HEODORE F. MILLER, of the firm of 
Stead-Miller, manufacturer of upholstery 
fabrics, was born in Philadelphia, September 
15, 1849. and is the son of George W. Miller 
and Hester Miller, nee Brown. Ele was edu- 
cated in the public schools of the city and in 
1875 began his active business career by creat- 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



TtiT) 



ing- the hrm of wliich he is now secretary and the puljlic schools of his native citv and at the 
treasurer. He is also connected, as its presi- I"-piscoi)al Academy, 
dent, with the Star and Crescent Company, 
manufacturers of Turkish towels and bath 
mats, and is a director of the Eighth National 
Bank and of the Central Trust and Savings 
C()mi)any. A Repul)lican in politics and in re- 
ligion a Methodist. Mr. Miller is a member of 
the Union League, Philadelphia, and of the 
Manufacturers' Club, and is also associated 
with St. Christopher's Hospital for Children 
and the Children's Homeopathic Hospital. He 
was married to TTla F. Davis, l)ut has no chil- 
dren. Mr. Miller's town residence is 5128 
North Broad Street and his business address 
Foin-th and Cambria Streets. 



CVMUEL FREDERICK HOUSTON, bank- 
er, Philadelphia, was born in Germantown. 
Philadelphia, August 30, 1866, and is son of 
Henry H. and Sallic S. (PxmneH) Houston. 
He was educated in the public schools and in 
1887 graduated from the University of Penn- 
sylvania with the Degree of Bachelor of Phil- 
osophy. He is vice-president and director Real 
Estate Trust Company ; treasurer and director 
Railway Motor Car Corjjoration ; Midland 
Pennsylvania Railroad Company ; director 
Third National Bank ; Trust Company of 
North America ; Nelson Valve Company ; Sus- 
quehanna Railway, Light and Power Com- 
pany, and Literstate Railwavs. lie is also a 
member of the American Academv of Political 
and Social Science ; trustee University of 
Pennsylvania, and member Standing Commit- 
tee of Diocese of Pennsylvania. His Clubs are 
the Rittenhouse, University, Philadelphia 
Cricket, Corinthian Yacht of Philadelphia, 
New York Yacht, Cumlx-rland. of Portland, 
Maine. Residence, "Druim Moir." Chestnut 
Hill. Office. Real Estate Trust Company, 
Philadelphia. 




^HOMAS K. OBER, JR., was born in Phila- 
delphia, May 7, 1876, and was the son of 
Thomas K. Ober and Margaretta Ober, nee 
Collins. He received his primary education in 



THOMAS K. OBER, JR. 

Later he entered the Unixcrsit}' of Pennsyl- 
\ania from which he graduated with honors. 

Air. Ober was formerly president of the di- 
rectors of -Vbington School District and is ncnv 
[^resident and director of the Nassau .Mills 
Corporation, and of the Independence Fire In- 
surance Security Company. 

He is \icc-presi(lent and director of the 
United Firemen's Insurance Comi)anv. and 
director of the Peoi)les' National h^ire Insur- 
ance Company, and of the St. Lam-ence Securi- 
ties Com])any. 

A Rei>ublican in politics, he ran for Congress 
in 1912, on the Washington party ticket in the 
I'.ighth District. l)ut was defeated. He belongs 
to no political associations and holds member- 
shi]) in no professional, technical or other 
societies. 



576 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



lie is, however, an acti\e nieinljer of the 
Masonic fraternit}-. l)eing affiliated with 
Friendship Lodge, Xo. 400, of Jenkintown, and 
also of the Dickens h'ellowshi]). J I is onlv 
clubs are tlie Union League and the Uni- 
versity, both of Philadelphia. 

Mr. ( )ber was married in 1903 to l^lla Grier 
liansell. l)y whom he has' two children. His 
home address is Noble, Pa., and his l)usiness 
address 1730 Land Title Puilding. Philadel- 
])hia. 




p^AKKY U API^RLh:, widely known hosiery 
manufacturer and general manager and 
vice-i:)resident of llarr}- C. A1)erle and Ccnu- 
pany, also treasurer and general manager of 
the Fidelity Knitting Mills, was born in Phila- 
del])hia, Ai)ril 7, 1S76. 

Young Aberle was educated in the public 
schools and later graduated from Peirce Col- 
lege, where he took a course in bookkeeping. 



and from the Philadelphia Textile School, 
where he took a course in chemistry. 

At fifteen years of age he l)egan his start in 
life and in the business which his energy, zeal 
and industrial enterprise have placed in the 
forefront of the industrial enterprises of Phila- 
delphia, ddiis start was made with the Brown 
Aberle Company, in \\hich his father was 
partner. Mr. Aberle served energetically and 
well in every dejiartment of the business, but 
at the age of twenty-four severed his connec- 
tion with the tirm. His father and he then 
started the Harry C. Aberle and Company, 
which is today probably the finest and most 
modern hosiery plant in the country. 

\\\ June, 1915, Mr. Aberle was urged to ac- 
cept the management of the Brown Aberle 
Company, which he did. In February, 1916, 
the name of the IJrown Aberle Company was 
changed to the Fidelity Knitting Mills, but it 
remained and continued to remain under the 
efficient management of Mr. Aberle, wdio is 
also its treasurer. Mr. Aberle is also secretary 
and a director in the Angola Dyeing Company, 
and is treasurer of the Philadelphia Full Fash- 
ioned Hosier}' Manufacturers' Association. 

He is a Ke]jublican in i)olitics, but he has 
never held jjolitical or other iniblic office, but 
is an honorary major of the ( )ld Guard of 
Philadelphia. 

He is also a member of the Friendship 
Lodge, F. and A. AI., of Jenkintown, where he 
resides, and he holds memberships in the 
Academy of the Fine Arts and the Philadel- 
])hia Textile .Schocd .Alunuii, aufl is a director 
of the Ninth National IJank. 

He is a life member of the Manufacturers' 
Club and his other clubs are the White Marsh 
Valley Country Club and ,the Old York Road 
Country Club. 

His home address is 'AVhite Hall," Lenox 
Road, Jenkintown, Pa., and his business ad- 
dress Clearfield and A Streets. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



511 



pREDERlCK C. AP.ERLE, pioneer among 
tlie full-fashioned hosiery manufacturers in 
the United States, was ]:)orn August 4, 1846, in 
the Black Forest region of Germany. He came 
to the United States in 1866 and became a citi- 
zen of this Country in 1868. In 1888 he fur- 
nished the capital to start in the hosiery busi- 
ness with Thomas E. llrown, William jirown 
and llenr_\- l')ro\\-n. under the lirm nanif of 
r>rt»wn Iirothers' and Aberle. This I'lrm was 
later incorporated under the title of The 
l-irown Aberle Comi)any. and in 1916 the title 
was chansTcd to Eidelitx" Knitting Mills. 




FRb:DERICK C. ABERLE 

In 1900 Mr. F. C. Aberle and his son. Harry 
C, started the Harry C. Aberle and Company, 
also manufacturing hosiery. Mr. F. C. Aberle 
is president of this company and they own and 
operate the plant at Clearfield, Lippincott and 
A Streets, which is the most wonderfully built 
and equipped plant in the country. 



Mr. E. C. Aberle, in addition to being presi- 
dent of the Harry C. Aberle and Company, is 
vice-president of the Angola Dyeing Company 
and a director in the Hancock Knitting Mills 
and the Tioga Paper Rox Company and all of 
these companies have emanated from the orig- 
inal I'rown Abcrlf C"ompany. At the age of 
s'e\enty-two he is daily actixely engaged in his 
business. 

With him are associated his three sons, 
Harry C. Aberle, vice-president and general 
manager; Gustave C. Aberle, treasurer, and 
( leorge V. Aberle, secretary. 

Mr. Al)erle senior is proud to acknowledge 
that the latter two junior members of the con- 
cern are at present serving the colors in 
h^rance. Gustave C. Aberle is a corporal in the 
104th Ammunition Train. Twenty-ninth Di- 
\ision, and (ieorge F. Aberle is a First Lieu- 
tenant in Company F of the 313th Regiment 
Infantry. Se\enty-ninth Division, and came 
through the gruelling tight of the Seventy- 
ninth at ]^Iont Faucon unscathed. 

Mr F. Aberle resides at 261 High Street, 
Liermantown. 

YYIFLIA^I H. KREID1-:R, member of the 
Civil Service Commission of Philadelphia, 
is one of the best known and most prominent 
mcml)ers of the Quaker City Bar. Admitted 
to practice at that Bar in 1899 he went rapidly 
ahead from the start and shortly after becaine 
associated with John C. Grady in an extensi\-e 
and lucrative practice. During the adminis- 
tration of ^layor Weaver he was that gentle- 
man's private counsel and then and since then 
held many important civic offices. \\ hile his 
law business, as a rule was along the line of 
general practice, he devoted his attention and 
abilities largely to civil and corporation cases 
and was general counsel for the Birmingham, 
Columbus and St. Andrew's railroad and sub- 
sequently counsel to the receiver appointed by 
the courts to take charge of the property of 
tliat corporation. In every case with which he 
was identified he exhibited remarkable legal 
ability and resourcefulness and today he is 



578 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



generally regarded as one of the foremost of 
the legal profession in Philadelphia, a profes- 
sion that enjoys a special reputation and an 
unique distinction throughout the United 
States. 

Mr. Kreider was born in Annville, Pennsyl- 
vania, August 19. 1874. and is the son of Henry 
H. and Mary A. (Hoverter) Kreider. After re- 
ceiving his elementary education in the public 
schools, he entered Lebanon College from 
which, after a brilliant course, he graduated in 
1894. with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. The 
following year he was given the degree of 
Master or Arts by this institution and then 
entered Yale University. His course there 
was' a repetition and elaboration of the excel- 
lent work he had done at Lebanon College. 
He was chairman of his class and chairman of 
the i)icture committee and when, in 1896, he 
graduated with the enviable degree of Bach- 
elor of Laws to his credit, there left the great 
and historic universit}- one of the ablest and at 
the same time one of the most popular men 
which that institution has produced, in its lat- 
ter day annals, at least. After his graduation 
proper he completed a post graduate course 
and was awarded the degree of Master of 
Law^s. 

This was in 1897, and immediately after he 
was admitted to the Bar of Connecticut. But 
home influences appealed to him strongly and 
changed the current of his life. He left the 
Nutmeg State for the Keystone, and being 
admitted to the Bar of Philadelphia settled 
down to practice in that city. That practice, 
to repeat, was a singular success from the first. 
Apart from his legal knowledge, which is ex- 
tensive and erudite, and of his experience in 
the varied and often complicated cases with 
which he has had to deal, and the more com- 
plicate and intricate they were the more wel- 
come they were to him, he possessed, and 
still possesses, the charm of a magnetic per- 
sonality. 

As a result he made hosts of friends, and as 
a natural consequence also, his clients grew^ 
apace. In politics, to wdiich he devoted him- 
self with the utmost earnestness', he soon be- 



came a leading figure and sincere admirer and 
friend of the late Senator Matthew Stanley 
Quay, and he followed the fortunes of that vet- 
eran warhorse of Republicanism with fidelity 
and devotion, and was one of the most trusted 
and esteemed leaders of the party which ''the 
man from Beaver" controlled. Mr. Kreider's 
Republicanism, like Quay's, was of the pro- 
nounced and stalwart type, which admitted no 
compromise with principle, and which saw in 
the G. O. P. only the elements of political 
progress and all the essentials thereof. 

From 1905 to 1907 Mr. Kreider w^as a mem- 
ber of the Common Council of Philadelphia. 
He was a member of the finance committee 
and was also chairman of the Fourth of July 
celebration committee. While in Councils he 
was identified with many projects of public 
importance and was invariably an earnest ad- 
vocate of anything designed for the material 
benefit of the city or calculated to conserve or 
promote her interests. In 1907 he was ap- 
pointed Civil Service Commissioner and Sec- 
retary of the Commission by Mayor Weaver 
and held the position until December 6, 1911, 
when he resigned. He then applied himself 
solely to his law practice, but on January 8, 
1916, Mayor Smith insisted that he resume his 
position on the Commission, as both a member 
and as Secretary, wdiich he did. 

It goes without saying that Mr. Kreider's 
life is a busy one, yet he actively and promi- 
nently identifies himself with many societies 
and clubs. He is a member of University 
Lodge, No. 610, Free and Accepted Masons ; of 
University Chapter, No. 256, R. A. M. ; of 
Philadelphia Commandery, No. 2, Knights of 
Pythias; of Lu Lu Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S.; 
of Loyal Order of Moose, Lodge No. 3 ; of 
Moosheart Legion of the World, Legion No. 3, 
and of the Book and Gavel Society of Yale 
University. His clubs are the Union Repub- 
lican Club, of Philadelphia, and the Old Guard 
of the Young Republicans. Philadelphia. His 
residence address is 5003 Walnut Street, Phila- 
delphia, and his office address 416 Pennsyl- 
vania Building and 875 City Hall. Philadel- 
phia. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



579 



yyiLLlAiM J. AIULllOLLAXD, steel and 
iron broker. Philadelphia, was born in 
.\ll)any. New York, his jiarents beint;;- James 
and JIannah (Sullivan) ]\Iulholland. lie was 
educated in the ])ublic schools of All)an}- and 
later g-raduated. with honors, from the Iliij'h 
School in that city. 

His first start in his life career was made in 
1902 when, as junior eng-ineer he became em- 
ployed in the erection of the Capitol building, 
his particular work being- supervision of the 
building of the roofs and stairways of that 
imposing- structure. 

]\Ir. Mulholland, apart from his business of 
broker, was the purchasing agent in Philadel- 
phia of the American Railways Company, a 
position of large responsibilities and one de- 
manding a large share of tact, judgment, busi- 
ness knowledge and ability and initiative. 

In each of these attributes he excels to a 
high degree and his work is much and justly 
appreciated by those with whom he is asso- 
ciated. 

In addition to this he is an extensive dealer 
in railway equipment and supplies, and is di- 
rect representative of many large concerns 
producing steel work and castings. Some of 
these had extensive government contracts dur- 
ing the war with Germany and in each in- 
stance afiforded the highest satisfaction. 

Mr. Mulholland is president of the Com- 
mercial Equipment Company of Philadelphia. 
He belongs to no scientific or other organiza- 
tions or fraternities, and the Overbrook Golf 
Club is the only social organization with 
which he is connected. 

In politics" he is an Independent and in re- 
ligion a Roman Catholic. 

He was married in Philadelphia April 1, 
1901, to ]\Iary Allen Corson, and has one 
daughter. 

His recreations are golfing and gardening, 
and to each he devotes a good deal of his leis- 
ure time. 

His residence address is Narberth, Pa., and 
his business address 515 Commercial Trust 
Building, Philadelphia. 




JOHN HKNRY MAURER 

TT may be laid down as a general rule that 
to become a successful lawyer one needs 
training, ambition, ability, a love of his pro- 
fession and the confidence (jf his clients. All 
these essentials to such success are represented 
in John Henry Maurer, one of the best known 
and popular and most esteemed members of 
the Philadelphia bar. 

Born in Philadelphia on October 1, 1870, he 
was the son of Adam Maurer and Mrs. Sophia 
Frederika ]\Iaurer, nee Kratz. His earlier 
education was acquired in the elementary 
schools of his native city, and later he had the 
benefit of tuition of wider scope in the schools 
of Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany. Return- 
ing to Philadelphia he resumed his studies at 
Lauderback's Academy, 10 Chestnut Street, 
and then entered the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, in the college class of 1891. Two years 
later he joined the law class, and in 1893 grad- 
uated with the highest honors, having to his 
credit the enviable degree of Bachelor of Law. 



580 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Immediately after graduation he was ad- 
mitted to the County of Philadelphia bar and 
started his law practice. Later he was ad- 
mitted member of the bar of the Superior 
Court of Pennsylvania, and on January 3, 
1898, was' admitted to practice in the State 
Supreme Court. With his reputation as a 
sound and conscientious lawyer extending, and 
with it his practice, he was admitted in 1903 to 
practice in the District Court. Circuit Court of 
Appeal of the United States for the Eastern 
District of Pennsylvania, and in Deceml)er, 
1915, received the distinction of admission to 
the bar of the Supreme Court at Washington. 

Mr. Maurer held many offices of public trust, 
and in each discharged the incidental duties 
with credit to himself and advantage to the 
public. He is now Assistant District Attor- 
ney, to Avhich position he was appointed in 
1907, and as such is doing excellent work in 
the conservation of law and order. 

Previous to his appointment he served as 
Assistant City Solicitor from January, 1899, to 
December, 1906, and prior to the incumbency 
of that important office was school director for 
four years in the Fifth Ward of Philadelphia. 

Mr. Maurer has also an enviable military 
record. As a member of Company C, First 
Regiment of the National Guard of Pennsyl- 
vania, he served in the Spanish-American Ws-v 
of 1898, did duty in the state coal strike of 
1902 and resigned later as Captain of his 
company. 

]\Ir. Maurer, who is a Republican in poli- 
tics, and in religion a Lutheran, is a member 
of the Dickens Fellowship and the Historical 
Society of Pennsylvania. He is a life member 
of Lodge 444, Free and Accepted Masons, of 
Philadelphia, No. 169, and the St. Albans Com- 
mandery No. 47, Knights Templar of Penn- 
sylvania, and is now a Thirty-second Degree 
F. & A. M. He is also a member of Lu Lu 
Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. His only clubs are 
the Union League and the Thomas D. Fin- 
letter Republican Club of the Fifth Ward. 

Mr. -Maurer was married in 1916 to Agnes 
R. Moore. His residence is 320 South Fourth 



Street, Philadelphia, and his business address 
526-529 Stephen Cjirard Building, Philadelphia. 




WILLIAM S. DULIN(; 
ASSOCIATED with Philadelphia for close 
(in to fift}- years, the tirm o( Laird. Scho- 
l^er and Comi)any stands prominently forth 
amongst the leading commercial and industrial 
institutions of the city. ]^\)unded in 1869 it 
has kept pace with all the progress and de- 
velopment of j)erfected shoemaking in Phila- 
delphia, or for that matter in the entire United 
States, and has long since established a repu- 
tation that is nation-wide in its scope. 

One of the active members of this firm is 
William S. Duling. Born in Philadelphia, 
November 28, 1854, he was educated in the 
j)ublic schools. At an early age he began his life 
career as clerk in a dry goods jobbing house 
but in a short time quit this employment to 
associate himself and his fortunes with the 
more promising field of manufacturing inter- 
ests. He became designer for the shoe manu- 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



581 



facturing lirni of Laird, Schobcr and Mitchell 
in 1875. and from that date his association with 
thr firm and business never ceased. When 
Mr. Dulin^ entered the firm it had just oro-an- 
ized for actixe entr\- into the manufacture of 
high-grade shoes for women. in this direc- 
tion there was ample field for the exercise of 
the young designer's best efforts and for the 
development of his latent ability. Both re- 
sponded to the call. For nineteen long and 
strenuous years he "did his l)it" efficiently, 
persistently and well, and the result was a 
large increase in the business of the firm. 

But in all that time Mr. Duling was not con- 
fined to the duties of designer. As the years 
glided by he was promoted to other and higher 
positions — each one of more responsibility and 
of greater trust — until, at length, the culmina- 
ting reward, in the shape of a partnership, 
came in 1894. As a result of this partnership, 
the name of the firm was changed to Laird, 
Schober and Company, the other members of 
the firm being Samuel S. Laird, founder of the 
business; John L. Laird, and (leorge P. 
Schober. 

Previous to the organization of the firm as 
Laird, Schober and Mitchell in 1875, the trade 
established by Samuel S. Laird was confined 
almost exclusively to the State of Pennsyl- 
vania and the nearby western territory. After 
reorganization, however, the concern began 
the manufacture of a superior grade of 
women's hand-sewn welt shoes and hand-sewn 
turns. The excellence of the products of the 
firm now brought a largely increased trade in 
which all sections of the United States were 
covered and included. After Mr. IXiling's en- 
trance into partnership the outi)Ut of the Inisi- 
ness still further increased and ex])anded, so 
much so, in fact, that more spacious factory 
premises became imperative and as a result 
extensive buildings at Nineteenth and Button- 
wood Streets, Philadelphia, were secured. 
Here the old and well recognized policy of the 
firm in producing only goods of the highest 
possible standard and type w^as continued, and 
today the trade of the firm of Laird, Schober 
and Company is world-wide. 



Mr. Duling, to whom the expansion and 
maintenance of such an enormous business is 
largely due, and who has been connected with 
the business for practically all his life, is a 
meml)er of the Cnion League of Philadelphia, 
of the Executive Committee of the National 
Boot and Shoe Manufacturers' Association of 
the L^nited States, and of the I-^xecutive Com- 
mittee of the Philadelphia Boot and Shoe 
Manufacturers' Association. Lie is keenly 
interested in the civic life and material prog- 
ress of his native city and is always an earnest 
and lil)eral su]iporter of any and every move- 
ment designed for the progress and advance- 
ment of the Quaker Citw of which he is so 
justly proud. 



T ST. C, l':()l\CiE jr)YCE was born Januar\^ 
.\ 1846. His father was Patrick Joyce, son 
of James Joyce, Esq., of Drimharsna Castle, 
Countv (ialway, Ireland, and his mother, Isa- 
bella \L St. ( ieorge, daughter of Arthur French 
St. George, J. P.. and I). L., of 'JArone House, 
County Galway. and of the Lady Harriet Emily 
St. Lawrence, daughter of the Earl of Howth. 
Sir Robert St. Lawrence, fifteenth baron, who 
was Lord Chancellor of Ireland, in 148.\ mar- 
ried Joan, second daughter of the Duke of Som- 
erset, and by this marriage. Lord Howth's de- 
scendants derived direct descent from King 
lulward 111 of England, and thus are inheritors 
of the blood royal. The Joyce family settled 
in the west of Ireland in the Thirteenth Cen- 
tury and acciuired a vast tract of country, 
known as "Joyce Country." on the borders of 
the Counties of Galway and Mayo. The 
JM-enches, Mr. Joyce's maternal ancestors, 
trace their origin in Ireland to Sir Maximilian 
l*"french. who came over with the Norman in- 
vaders in the Twelfth Century. In the latter 
l)art of the l-:igliteenth Century the representa- 
tive of the family at Tyrtme House married 
the daughter of Lord St. George and adopted 
the name of St. (ieorge. 

Mr. lovce was educated in private schools 
and in the National School of his home town of 



582 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



Kinvara, County Galway, and later graduated 
from the grammar school of Erasmus Smith, 
Galway. He acquired a great part of his news- 
paper training in Ireland, his experience car- 
rying him through many history-making 
events in that country. A personal friend of 
the noted leaders in the agitation for Home 
Rule Avhen the movement was in its infancy, 
he was one of its most vigorous champions. 
Mr. Joyce joined the Gahvay Express, a 
weekly newspaper, in Galway, Ireland, as re- 
porter, in 1867. After a short time he became 
attached, as sub-editor and reporter to the 
Galway Vindicator, then one of the oldest 
newspapers in Ireland. 

After many years with the Vindicator he 
established the Galivay Press, the first Home 
Rule paper founded in Ireland. Owing to the 
fact that the present-day enthusiasm for Home 
Rule was lacking in those days, the Press was 
a financial failure. Mr. Joyce then iK'came 
editor of the Glare Journal. During his period 
in this office there occurred the famous elec- 
tion in the borough of luinis, when Charles 
Stewart Parnell's first candidacy for Parlia- 
ment was returned l)y the narrow majority of 
six. Mr. Joyce contributed largely to this re- 
sult, as he was then, and until the death of 
Parnell, the latter's intimate friend. 

From the Glare Journal Mr. Joyce went to 
Birr, King's County, to start and edit the Mid- 
land Tribune, the first, and then the only, na- 
tionalist organ in the midlands of Ireland. Mr. 
Joyce subsequently became editor of th.e 
Lcinstcr Leader, but left after a few years, 
when the ownership of the paper changed 
hands. He then came to Philadeli)hia, where 
he became attached to the Times, and contin- 
ued on its stafif as reporter, assistant city editor, 
news editor, foreign editor, and editorial 
writer until the i)aper ceased, when he joined 
the Ledger staff. Then, after a few years as 
foreign editor of The North Ajuerican, he re- 
turned to the Public Ledger, on which paper 
he still remains. 

Mr. Joyce is an authority upon the subject 
of European, and especially Irish and English, 
politics and economics. He has been a prolific 



writer upon these and kindred subjects, and 
has acquired an enviable reputation as a writer 
of contemporary Irish verse. He is also author 
of "Ireland's Story," a "History of King's 
County" (Ireland), and other works on Irish 
topics. 




ERANlv 11. \\i(,T( )N 

DITUMINOUS coal mining is one of the 
greatest industries of the State of Pennsyl- 
vania. Its yearly output is far above 82,- 
000,000 tons, and the value of such output is 
something like $200,000,000. As a conse- 
quence, some of the leading men of the state 
are associated with it, for the field of enter- 
prise and energy which it has opened up, and 
which is continuously expanding, is as large 
as it is important. 

Among the prominent men identified with 
this vast industry is Frank Hines Wigton, the 
subject of this sketch. Ever since 1878 he has 
been engaged in bituminous coal mining in 
Central Pennsylvania, and today has had more 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



:)83 



experience of the l)iisiness and more intimate 
knowledge of its every detail than prohably 
any other man in Philadelphia, where his tirm 
represents one of the largest, one of the best 
kiujwn and one of the most progressive, in its 
line, in the city. Coal mining came to ^Nlr. 
\\ igton l)y inheritance and in the natural 
order of things, llis father, Richard llenscjn 
Wigton, wlio was born in Chester C'ounty, 
Pennsylvania, in 1818, was one of the pioneers 
in the mining of bituminous coal in the central 
regions of his native state. This was in 18()1, 
and he continued prominently and actively 
associated with the industry until his death in 
1895. In early life he was engaged in the 
manufacture of iron, but quit this business to 
devote all his time and energies to coal min- 
ing, in wdiich he was as successful as he was 
prominent. 

Richard Benson \\'igton's wife, mother of 
the subject of this sketch, was, before her mar- 
riage, Aliss Eleanor Hamil. Her family was 
once most prominent and most popular in 
Maryland, l)Ut her immediate ancestors re- 
moved to Pluntingdon County, Pa., where 
they settled upon an extensive tract of land 
west of the Susquehanna River. Here they 
built the first blast furnace ever seen in the 
United States, and it was here, by a rather 
strange coincidence, that Richard P.enson 
\\'igton located his blast factory in 1855. 

Frank Hines Wigton was born in tlunting- 
don County, Pennsylvania, March 17, 1857. 
He received the elements of his education in 
the i)ublic schools of his natal town, and later 
attended Lauderbach's Academy, then one of 
the leading and best-known scholastic institu- 
tions in Philadelphia. After the usual course 
here he entered Princeton University, from 
wdiich. after a most creditable course, he grad- 
uated in 1877, with the degree of Bachelor of 
Arts. The following year, as already indi- 
cated, he entered the coal business, in wdiich 
he has ever since been, and in wdiich he has 
attained a reputation for fair dealing, enter- 
prise, resourcefulness and a high order of gen- 
eral ability. He is, in every sense of the w^ord. 
a thorough business man, and the various in- 



terests with which he is associated bear, in 
their standing, reputation and progress, the 
l)est possible evidence of his judgment, enter- 
prise and zeal. 

Mr. \\'igt(-)n is now president of the Morans- 
dale Coal Company, of the Moransdale Supply 
Company and of the Aurora Coal Company, 
is vice president of the Miller Coal Company 
and is a director of the Carbon Transportation 
Company. He is an active member of St. 
Andrew's Society and the Historical Society 
of Pennsylvania, and also holds membership 
in the Pennsylvania Society of New York. He 
is a member of the Union League of Philadel- 
phia, the Merion Cricket Club of Philadelphia, 
the Undine Barge Club of Philadelphia and 
the Princeton Club. 

~Slr. Wigton is a Republican in politics, and 
in religion is a Lutheran. He never aspired 
to political office, but is regarded as a good 
and useful citizen, to whom the best interests 
of the City of Philadelphia are most dear. He 
was married in Philadelphia, in 1888, to Mary 
Louisa Wilson, and has two sons, Robert Wil- 
son and Edward Newton Wigton. His resi- 
dence address is School Lane, Germantow-n, 
Philadelphia, and his of^ce address. Broad and 
Chestnut Streets', Philadel])hia. 



pHARLES MORTON CHh:SNUT, well- 
known luml)er merchant and president and 
general manager of the Yellow Pine Company 
of Philadelphia, enjoys the distinction of hav- 
ing made the corporation of wdiich he is now 
the head, and with wdiich he has been asso- 
ciated since its establishment, one of the most 
prosperous' and successful of its kind both in 
the Quaker City and in the Eastern States of 
America. This achievement was attained, in 
the first instance, by complete knowdedge of 
every possible detail of the lumber business, 
and in the next by strict attention to business, 
absolute probity and the ever present desire 
and incentive to supply the best material, and 
under conditions the most advantageous to the 
patrons of his company. Such a program, well 



584 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



and faithfully adhered to, was a guarantee and 
a promise of inevitable success, and such suc- 
cess is now and has long been the fruition of 
J\Ir. Chesnut's persistent endeavors. 




CHARLES MORTON CHESNUT 

j\Ir. Chesnut was born in Rensselaer, Indi- 
ana, April 5, 1867. His father was Ca|)tain 
Thomas ( ). Chesnut, and his mother, who 
hailed from New England, was, before her 
marriage, Martha Briggs. 

He received his primary education in the 
})ul)lic schools of his native town, and later 
attended Columbia City high school, in the 
Hoosier State, from which he graduated with 
honors. After leaving the high school he de- 
cided to learn the trade of carjienter. and spent 
his apprenticeship at this trade in his native 
State. 

In 1888, just after he had reached his ma- 
jority, he removed to Wilmington, Delaware, 
entering the employ of the George W. 
Bush and Son's Company, which then operated 



the largest wholesale yellow pine lumber yard 
in the east. Here he remained for six years, 
familiarizing himself with every detail of the 
business and accjuiring the broad knowledge 
and varied experience so useful to him in after 
life. He made a special study of the grading 
and inspection of yellow pine and when the 
company ceased to do business in 1894 and he 
was forced to seek employment elsewhere, he 
had learned all about the business in its every 
essential. 

Such a valuable man as Mr. Chesnut was 
then reputed to be, and in point of fact was, 
could not possibly have been long unemployed, 
so his services were immediately sought by the 
AA'illiam M. Lloyd Company, of Philadelphia, 
with which firm he became connected in a 
clerical capacity. After a short time at this 
work, in which he supplemented his practical 
experience by equally valuable experience in 
another direction, he was given the onerous 
and responsible position of superintendent of 
the company's extensive yellow pine wharves. 
In 1900 he left the employment of the Lloyd 
firm and became associated with Emlen 
Hewes. Shortly after this association the Yel- 
low Line Company of Philadelphia was estab- 
lished, with George Warner president and Em- 
len Hewes vice-president and general man- 
ager. Later Mr. Chesnut succeeded Mr. Hewes 
in that i)osition and, when Mr. Warner died in 
1916, he succeeded to the presidency of the 
firm, also undertaking the exacting duties of 
general manager. These positions he now 
holds, and to the admirable and energetic dis- 
charge of their incidental duties is due the 
present success of the undertaking and the 
promise of even greater and more substantial 
prosperity in the future. 

Besides being president of the Yellow Pine 
Company, Mr. Chesnut is also a director of the 
Tenth National Bank of Philadelphia. He is a 
former president of the Lumbermen's Ex- 
change of Philadelphia and also a director of 
the Retail Lumber Dealers' Association. He 
is a past master of Colonial Lodge, F. and A. 
M., and the only clubs with which he is con- 
nected are the City Club and the Engineers' 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



n.s.-i 



Club of Philadelphia. While residing in 
Sharon Hill, Pa., he was president of the Board 
of Education from 1910 until 1914, and is now- 
Senior Warden of Christ Episcopal Church, 
Ridley Park, where he now lives, and represen- 
tative to the general convention of the Diocese 
of Pennsylvania. 

He was married in ( )ld Swedes Church. 
Wilmington, Del., June 1, 1897, to Sara Far- 
rington Jones, member of a well known and 
highly esteemed family in ^Maryland, and has 
four children : Dorothy Farrington, Thomas 
Frederick, Myra Francis and Cecilia Morton. 
Mr. Chesnut, who is a stalwart Republican, 
lives in Ridley F^ark, Delaware County. I'a., 
and his business address is Pennsylvania 
Building, Philadelphia. 




TA^IES STARR, president of the Collieries' 
Supply and EquiiMuent Company, of Phila- 
delphia, and intimately associated with other in- 
dustrial and commercial enterprises, was l)orn in 
Philadelphia April 5, 1870, and is the son of 



lames and Mary (lunlrn) Starr. Me received his 
elementary education in the public schools and 
later attended the Germantown .\cademy. Grad- 
uating from this institution, he was sent to com- 
])lete his education to St. Paul's School, at Con- 
cord. New Hampshire, and later entered the Uni- 
Ncrsity of Pennsylvania, whence he graduated 
with the degree of Bachelor of Science 

In 1892 Mr. Starr began his successful business 
career as managing clerk to the Landon Iron 
Company. Here he remained for about three 
years, gaining a vast amount of experience, and 
in 1895 became associated as salesman with Ma- 
deira, Hill and Comjxany. For about three years 
he discharged the duties incidental to a resi)on- 
sible and exacting position with faithfulness, 
energy and aliilitv and to the entire satisfaction 
of the firm. In 1908, however, he resigned the 
position to accept the more lucrative one of 
secretary to the Collieries' Sui)ply and ]M|uii)ment 
Company, of which he is now the honored and 
responsible head. After six years' service as 
secretary of this corporation he was elected its 
president and director, a fact which sjieaks 
trumpet-tongued of his ability, as it proclaims in 
e(|ually emphatic terms the estimation in which 
he was held, and which esteem and confidence 
l)ecome the more accentuated as his management 
of a most important and a steadily growing cor- 
poration develops itself. Since his election to the 
commanding position of president. ^Ir. Starr has 
devoted all the resources of his exceptional ability 
and vast and varied business experience to the 
development of the firm along the most modern 
and most progressive lines, and in this direction 
his success has been as marked and emphatic as 
it has been gratifying to the interests he has 
undertaken to conserve and promote. 

I besides being president and director of the 
Collieries' Su]ij:)ly and Equipment Company, Mr. 
Starr is secretary and director of the Hygrade 
I'owder Company and vice president and director 
of the Quaker Leatherette Company, so that he 
is essentially a busy man, along with being a most 
successful one. Mr. Starr has also a notable 
military record to his credit. He was a private 
in Companv D. First Infantry, National Guard 
of Pennsvlvania. from 1893 to 1896. in which 



586 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



latter year he became a private in the historic 
First Troop of Philadelphia City Cavalry. In 
1903 he was promoted to corporal and the year 
following was appointed sergeant. He continued 
with the Troop, at this rank, until 1898, when, in 
the war with Spain, he enlisted in the First 
Troop, United States Volunteers, and saw serv- 
ice in Porto Rico. In May, 1918, he was appoint- 
ed captain of Troop A, Pennsylvania Reserve 
Militia, and in December of that year was pro- 
moted to major and brigade adjutant, a position 
which he still holds. 

Mr. Starr is a Repul)lican in politics and in 
religion is an Episcopalian. He is keenly and 
sympathetically interested in every movement 
for the advancement of his native city, but has 



never held or aspired to political office. He is a 
member of the Zoological Society of Philadelphia 
and of the Phi Kappa Sigma Fraternity, and his 
clubs are the Philadelphia, the University, the 
Germantown Cricket, the Mask and Wig. He is 
also a member of the Military Order of the Loyal 
Legion. Fishing and rifle shooting are his chief 
recreations, and in each he is regarded as an 
expert. 

Mr. Starr was married in Germantown on 
r)ctober 15, 1901, to Sarah Logan Wister, and 
they have one child, Sarah Logan Starr, born 
June 13, 1903. Mr. Starr's residence address is 
Olney avenue, below Wister, Germantown, Phila- 
delphia, and his Inisiness address is 14 North 
bifth street, Philadelphia. 




S. DAVIS PAGE 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



58, 




FRANCIS T. CHAMBERS 

A CKNOWLEDGED as one of the best au- 
thorities on patent law in the United States, 
Francis T. Chambers, one of the leading law- 
yers of Philadelphia, enjoys a national reputa- 
tion in this fertile field of legal application and 
endeavor. Patent law has been ahke a study and 
attraction for him ever since his admission to the 
l)ar; he is absolutely expert in all its ramifica- 
tions and as a consecjuence has been conspicu- 
ously associated with some of the most impor- 
tant cases on record in which the ownership of 
patent rights in this country were involved. 

Mr. Chambers was born in Cincinnati, ( )hio, 
March 3, 1S55, and is the son of Francis 1". and 
Elizabeth Lea ( Febiger) Oiambers. He was edu- 
cated in the West Chester Academy. West Ches- 
ter, Pennsylvania, from which he entered Yale 
University. Here he remained the full course 
and graduated with the degree of Bachelor of 
Science. He next entered the Law School of 
the Universitv of Pennsylvania, and after a bril- 
liant course graduated with the enviable degree 



of Doctor of Laws. While in the University of 
Pennsylvania he also studied law in the office 
of William Henry Kawle, where he readily be- 
came thoroughly coiiversant with all the practical 
details of the jjrofession. After his graduation 
he became associated in i)ractice of the i)atent 
L'lw with the late (ieorge Harding, the partner- 
shi]) lasting for ten years, or until LSHS. Since 
then Mr. Chamljers practices in all the Federal 
Courts throughout the United States, where his 
reputation and fame as a i)atent law expert are 
unquestionably recognized :uid as widely sought 
lor and appreciated. 

Mr. Chambers holds menilicrship in the riiila- 
(lelphia. Rittenhouse, Racquet, Philadelphia 
Country, Automobile and City Clubs of Phila- 
delphia and also in the Huntingdon Valley Coun- 
try and Penllyn Clubs. He is a Progressive Re- 
publican in politics, in which he is not actively 
interested, and his religion is Protestant F.pis- 
copal. He was married in West Cliester. Pa., 
June 12, 1890, to Nanette Schuyler Bolton and 
has three children: Francis T., junior; Katherine 
and Christine Febiger. His residence address in 
1530 Pine street, Philadelphia, and in summer, 
Penllyn, Pa., and his office address, 712 Walnut 
street, Philadelphia. 

PRANK A. HOPPE, manufacturer of rifle 
cleaning compounds, was born in Philadel- 
phia, May 15. 1869. He attended the public 
schools of this city and, in 1882. while still a 
boy, began his business career with William 
Waterall. paint manufacturer, with whom he 
remained for five years. He then became asso- 
ciated with Achenbach & Miller, taking charge 
of their jiaint department, in which position he 
remained for twenty years. 

During this time Mr. Hoppe was a member of 
the National Cuard of Pennsylvania. When there 
arose a difficulty over cleaning a new type of 
high-power rifle the Covernment had adopted. 
Mr. Hoppe became interested in the prol)lem and 
after much experimenting discovered a chemical 
compound which thoroughly cleaned and pre- 
served firearms of every kind, and he called his 
discovery Nitro Powder Solvent, No. 9. It is the 



588 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



first compound of its character that has been 
endorsed by nearly every miHtary authority and 
is the only one that satisfactorily removes burnt 




FRANK A. HOPPE 

powder from high-powered rifles. Mr. Hoppe 
started in business for himself, putting his clean- 
ing compound on the market. There was a great 
demand for it and the business grew until the 
l)roduct became universally known and used. 

Mr. Ho|)pe is a life member of Melita Lodge 
No. 295, F. and A. M. ; Kadosh Commandery, 
Knights Templar; Lu Lu Temple. A. A. (J. M. N. 
S., and also of Lu Lu Patrol. He is alsO' a mem- 
ber of the Philadelijhia Cbainber of Commerce : 
the Philadelphia Rifle Club ; the New Jersey 
State Rifle Association ; the Philadelphia Tall 
Cedar of Lebanon. Forest No. 10, and the Pen 
and Pencil Club. He is treasurer of the Penn- 
sylvania State Rifle Association and of the Harry 
Davis Republican Club of the Thirty-eighth 
Ward. 

In 1901 Mr. Hoppe married Mary A. Bell, of 



Philadelphia. They had two children, only one 
of whom is now living, Frank C. Hoppe. 

Mr. Hoppe's military record dates back to his 
youth. He enlisted as a private in Company D, 
.Second Regiment, National Guard of Pennsyl- 
\ania. June 28, 1887. He re-enlisted in Company 
E, November 10. 1896, and was promoted to the 
rank of sergeant June 26 the following year. He 
served in the Spanish-American War and 
received his honorable discharge at the end of 
that conflict, being mustered out October 17. 
1898. He then enlisted again as a private in Com- 
pany E, Second Regiment, and was promoted to 
the rank of sergeant in October. 1899. In 1900 he 
was elected Second Lieutenant and September 
25 of the same year was elected First Lieutenant 
and July 11. 1903, he was elected Captain. He 
retired as Captain. N. G. P.. in 1916. He served 
as Battalion Adjutant. Sixth Regiment, from 
December 15. 1903 to 1910. Mr. Hoppe was also 
a memljer of the Executive Committee of the 
Home Defense Reserve and was Captain, com- 
manding Company E. Fourth division. Mr. 
Hoppe resides at 1917 Somerset Street. Phila- 
delphia, and his business address is 2314 North 
Eighth Street. 

THOMAS KEDWARD 

A NNOUNCEMENT recently of the retire- 
ment from active business of Thomas Ked- 
ward. president of the W'illiam Kedward Dye- 
ing Company, and sale of the big plant at Cedar 
and Caml)ria Streets, where the business has been 
conducted for many years, influenced genuine 
regret in textile circles, where Mr. Kedward was 
well known. The Ijusiness is being continued at 
the old location, however, under its original firm 
name. It was established in 1872. 

11iomas Kedward is the son of W'illiam Ked- 
ward, founder of the firm. The original plant of 
the firm was a small one and was opened on the 
same site on which the present building is located. 

Lender W'illinm Kedward's direction the busi- 
ness jirospered from the start. Mr. Kedward 
became a prominent figure in Kensington textile 
circles. Many of tlie most prominent mill owners 
in the district were among the firm's customers. 
Its high quality of dyeing, bleaching and beam- 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



589 



iiig. especially of cotton warps and skein yarns, 
attracted general attention and the business grew 

rapidly. 




THOMAS KEDWARD 

Several times additions had to be made to the 
plant to take care of increased business and soon 
the firm becan.e one of the best known in the 
P^hiladel]:)hia mill district. 

Thomas Kedward followed the footsteps of 
his father at the plant, which he entered when a 
boy. He quickly developed a thorough knowl- 
edge of every branch of the business and when 
the elder Mr. Kedward died the son succeeded 
him, becoming head of the firm. Under his 
supervision the business prospered materially, 
and until his recent retirement from active asso- 
ciation with the company and the subsequent sale 
of the plant he was continually at the helm di- 
recting the Ijusiness. 

During the war with Germany this firm was 
awarded some large orders from important Gov- 



ernment ccjntractors, each of which was executed 
to the fullest satisfaction of those who placed 
the contracts. In fact, the ])atriolism of the com- 
])any and its dcNotion to all the material interests 
of riiiladelphia were a feature of its manage- 
ment in this trying period, when there were many 
incenti\es to profiteer. 

.\11 their dealings with the \arious Govern- 
ment contractors from whom they had orders 
were based on the same fair, square and e(|uit- 
al)le ]:)rinci])les U])on which their business with 
other firms and the general trade is conducted. 

(irowth of the plant followed extension of its 
business to various lines of trade. Mr. Thomas 
Kedward early became known to virturdly every 
textile manufacturer in this section and the Com- 
pany's business extended to virtually all branches 
of the textile industry. 

While Mr. Kedward has given up active par- 
ticipation in the Company's business he has re- 
tained many of his outside business interests and 
still maintains an office in the center of the city. 

His son William, named for his grandfather, 
is associated with a large lumber manufacturing 
coni|)any here. 

HON. WILLIAM I. SCHAFFIiR 

np( ) Attorney General W illiam I. Schafi'er, of 
the State of Pennsyhania, there fell, during 
the brief si)ace of about two months, the most 
conspicuous honors the practitioner of law can 
receive. He was elected president of the Tenn- 
svlvania State Bar Association v.-ithin a short 
time before (iovernor Sproul had announced that 
Mr. Schaffer was to be Attorney General in the 
new gubernatorial cabinet. 

It is significant, despite these unusual honors, 
that Mr. Schafi'er never took a course in a law 
school nor was he included even in the roster of 
any high school graduation list. Financial neces- 
sity forced him to quit school before his time and 
earn a living. The story of his climb from the 
bottom of the ranks to success, in si)ite of these 
handicaps, is unusually interesting. 

Attorney (ieneral Schafifer is a "people's man." 
He likes to say he's just a plain country lawyer. 
His law office is in Chester — a typical country 



590 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



lawyer's sanctum — bright and well-ordered. l)ut 
plain and businesslike. 




HON. WILLIAM L SCHAFFER 

Mr. Schaffer was born in Clermantown. fifty- 
two years ago. His parents soon after moved to 
Chester, and he's been there ever since. He went 
through the public schools of Chester, selling 
newspapers outside of school hours to i)rocur 
the money it was necessary for him to earn. He 
served the newspapers which (iovernor Sproul 
was later to own. 

He was fifteen years old and in his second 
year in high school when financial necessity won 
the battle against education and he had to gel 
out and earn his daily bread. He got a job as 
office boy in the office of Judge Dickinson, of 
the L^nited States District Court. Later he 
became a clerk in a Chester store. A few months 
after this he obtained a position in the office of 
Judge William E. Broomall, which seemed to 
ofifer an opportunity for advancement. This was 
in 1882, when he was sixteen years old. Ever 



since he left high school he had been devoting 
his evenings to hard study. For two years Mr. 
."^chafir'er went to the home of the principal of 
the .school and studied with him. principally 
Latin and mathematics. Stenography then came 
into general use and Mr. Schafifer saw a chance 
to increase his income. He studied it at night 
and soon became an expert. Later he became 
judge Broomall's stenographer and did consider- 
able court work. 

Mr. Schafi'er wanted to be a doctor. But he 
could not find the opportunity to get the neces- 
sary course in a medical school. He was also on 
the point of going to Minneapolis to take a steno- 
graphical expert's position with a big railroad. 

But several of the friends of his own age 
announced that they were going to take their 
preliminary examinations for the bar. This con- 
sists ]-)rincipally of subjects in the English 
l)ranches. Schafi'er wondered whether he could 
make a good showing alongside the boys who 
bad finished their high school courses. He got 
the sample examination papers. 

"I believe I could pass that examination," he 
told Judge Broomall. 

"Cio ahead," advised his employer. 

So he did. and it made him a lawyer. He w^as 
then seventeen years old. He w^as admitted to 
the bar as soon as the law allowed, which was 
on his twenty-first birthday. 

After becoming a lawyer he was made Judge 
Broomall's first assistant and stayed in the office 
about ten years. 

During this time he made his first venture 
into politics, during the biggest political fight ever 
staged in Delaware County. He took up the 
cause of "Jack" Robinson, who was running 
for State Senator in opposition to the dominant 
Cooper machine, whose candidate was Jesse M. 
Baker. Robinson was elected. This was in 1880 
As a result of the showing he made in that cam- 
paign the young lawyer was elected a delegate 
from Delaware to the gubernatorial convention 
of 1890. Here he made a speech seconding Hast- 
ings, who received the nomination. 

Robinson got control of the Delaware Comity 
organization and Mr. SchafTer was elected chair- 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



b')\ 



man of the Couniy Coinniitlcc. in which tjl'tlcc \vj 
served two terms. This was a period of con- 
stant political hattk's. Robinson made a si)ec- 
tacular and successful li^ht for Congress, and it 
was proposed that Mr. Schaffer succeed him in 
the State Senate. Captain I'.aker. the opposition 
candidate, offered to withdraw if Mr. Schaffer 
were made the candidate of the Robinson forces. 
But Mr. Schaffer took thought and added a 
cubit to his stature. He decided that he wanted 
to be a lawyer and not an offfcer-holder. He at 
that time decided on the policy he has always 
since adhered to. not to engage in any political 
activity that would divorce him from the prac- 
tice of the law. He announced that he would 
not be a candidate for Senator, but would next 
year be a candidate for District Attorney of the 
county. 

He was elected to that office in 1893 and served 
two terms. At the end of that time he declined 
renomination. The same year he was married. 
Mrs. Schaff'er was from Towanda, so that the 
family is 100 per cent. Pennsylvanian. 

During his six years as District Attorney he 
tried 4000 criminal cases. He had no Assistant 
District Attorney and it was a matter of standing 
up in court and trying one case after another 
until he was finished. 

Among the luost notable cases his name was 
associated with during that time were the Short- 
lidge homicide and the Brown and Delaney 
murder cases. 

After his terms as District Attorney, he settled 
down to a general law practice in Delaware 
County. By that time he had made his reputa- 
tion and since then he has been on one side or 
the other of every big case in the county for 
twenty years. 

He has actually spent the largest part of his 
working life at the trial table. His debut in this 
capacity was made about 1890 in the famous 
Chester firebug case. Three prominent men of 
Chester, two of them descendants of signers of 
the Declaration of Independence, were accused 
of having set fire to fourteen buildings for the 
excitement it would cause. He was of counsel 
for defense and made the closing argutnent. The 
men were acquitted. 



.Xnother well-known case was the Robinson 
will case, which involved a contest of the will 
of Congressman Robini^ion's mother involving 
half a million. Schaffer represented the interests 
of his former political associate. He also de- 
fended the Sun Oil Comjjany in a series of 
nuisance cases brought against it, the trial devel- 
oping precedents important to industrial litiga- 
tion. He was of the defense in the Capitol graft 
prosecutions and took an imi)ortant part in the 
trial. 

He was counsel for the defendant in the 
famous Bullitt lunacy case, which attracted State- 
wide notice because of the prominence of the 
parties involved, and counsel for the defense in 
the Bituminous Coal Trust cases. 

He has had many important lawyers as clients, 
an index of a man's standing in his own profes- 
sion. |ohn (i. Johnson was one of these and 
justice Simpson another. He also is correspond- 
ent for the law firm of Justice Simpson and the 
present Attorney General. Francis Shunk Brown. 
He and Brown are old friends, the first inti- 
macy having sjjrung up during yachting days on 
the Delaware. 

During the present stupendous growth of the 
Delaware County district dtie to war enterprises, 
the new Attorney Ceneral has represented every 
important war industry in the field. 

C. HARRY JOHNSON 
miLLIAM PITT (son (^f the greater Will- 
iam Pitt, Earl of Chatham), who became 
premier of England when only twenty-four 
years of age, was once twitted upon his youth 
in the British House of Commons. To this he 
made reply that he was not responsible for his 
age and, furthermore, that if there were any 
objections to it that objection would most as- 
suredly become the lesser every day. In point 
of fact, he pleaded guilty to the somewhat il- 
logical charge of being a young man, but urged 
that he \vould get over the defect, if it were 
such, as he grew older. 

There are hundreds of men to whom the 
same absurd objection applies, and whose de- 
fense can be precisely that of the famous Eng- 



592 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



lish statesman, who emphasized that defense 
by becoming the recognized head of a world- 
wide empire and government at an age when 
the great majority of men are but u])on the 
threshold of life. 




C. HARRY JOHNSON 

C. Harry Johnson is among the men who, 
like Pitt, can plead guilty to the charge of 
youth and claim success with it. Mr. Johnson, 
who is a real estate broker doing business at 
1420 Chestnut Street, Philadeli)hia, was born 
m that city on December 17, 1892. His father, 
Edward S. Johnson, was a leading member of 
the medical profession, while his mother, nee 
Mary R. Goess, was of a family well known 
and as highly esteemed in the city. 

Mr. Johnson was educated in the pul^lic 
schools and entered the business in which he 
is now so sviccessfully engaged on September 
27, 1911. Every detail of that business was 
rendered familiar to and mastered by him in 
the school of practical experience and what he 
does not know of the intricacies and all the 



many-sided aspects of real estate brokerage is 
simply not worth knowing. 

There is always a close affinity between real 
estate and the Ruilding and Loan Associations 
of which Philadelphia is so justly proud and 
with many such associations Mr. Johnson is 
prominently and intimately connected. He is 
secretary of three — the Popular, the Prepared- 
ness and the Seventh Street and Columbia 
Avenue — while towards two — the Hunting 
Park and the Clearfield — his relationship is 
that of conveyancer. In each of these his per- 
sonal integrity, his invarial)le square dealing 
and his thorough knowledge of business are 
well known, and highly appreciated 

Mr. Johnson is affiliated with no professional 
or technical societies, but is a member of 
Richard Vaux Lodge, No. 384, F. and A. M. 
His clubs are the Pitman Masonic and the 
Associated Alumni of the Central High School 
of Philadelphia, and he is also a member of 
the Philadelphia Real Estate Board. He is an 
active member of the Bethlehem Presbyterian 
Church Broad and Diamond Streets, Phila- 
d-.dphia ; is assistant superintendent of the Sab- 
bath School, and is also an active member of 
the Usher's Association connected with the 
church. 

Mr. Johnson was married in 1914 to Made- 
line Evelyn Quick, and has one daughter, Mary 
\\\ Johnson. His private address is 3639 North 
Twenty-first Street, Tioga. Philadelphia, and 
his business address 1420 Chestnut Street, 
Philadelphia. 



CHARLES J. WEBB 

npH AT the wool trade of Philadelphia is one 
of its foremost industries and represents 
todav one of the most important resources of its 
vast wealth is due largely to the efforts and t^ie 
l)rogressiveness of such men as Charles J. Webb, 
head of the firm of Charles J. Webb & Company. 
This company is one of the largest wool houses 
in this country and is known wherever wool is 
used. 

Charles J. Webb is one of the most conspicu- 
ous fissures in the wool trade in America. His 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



593 



business is one of the most successful and enter- 
prising in riiiladelphia. It was due in i:;reat 
measure to Air. Wel)l)'s efforts that the nation- 
wide "more sheep more wool" eampaij^ni was 
started and is flourishing- with the object of 
increasin,^" maleriallv this country's wool pro- 
duction. 




CHARLES J. WEBB 

Although a native of Delaware — Mr. Webb 
was born in W'ilmington, July 31, 18'.^8 — he has 
spent most of his life in Pennsylvania, having 
come to Philadelphia in 1873. He is the son of 
James L. Webb, who was a prominent tanner and 
leather merchant of his day in England, and 
Susan R. Webb. 

Following attendance at public schools in Wil- 
mington, Burlington and Beverly, N. J., Mr. 
Webb took his first job in Burlington, where he 
became a grocery clerk. Burlington was "too 
small" for the energetic young Webb and he 
came to Philadelphia for conquest in broader 
business fields. 

He took a job with the wool house of James 
G. Kitchen. Young Webb was quick to learn 



the business, which he mastered from the bottom 
rung upwards, lie rapidly advanced to a sales- 
manship and later, through hard work and un- 
usual persistence, became a member of the firm. 
Then he decided to branch out for himself. 

Mis in(k])endenl venture was an instant suc- 
cess. As head of the firm of Charles J. Webb & 
Company, he handled an extensive business and 
soon won for himself a rejuitation tor rare dis- 
cernment and a strict integrity that commanded 
attention in the business world. 

Today the tirm is one of the largest in the 
world devoted to the handling of wool. Recently 
it purchased ground for a big warehouse in Dela- 
ware Avenue that is estimated will cost nearly 
$1,0CX),000 for construction. Associated with Mr. 
\\'el)b in this enterprise are Edwin Webb and 
Andrew S. Webb, his sons, and John S. Whill- 
den. 

Mr. Webl) is thoroughly imlnied with the idea 
that Philadelphia is destined to attain a remark- 
able growth as a trade center, particularly in the 
wool industry. Tn consequence, he is continually 
active in promoting the city's best interests, in- 
dustrially and otherwise, and figures prominently 
not alone as one of Philadelphia's leading mer- 
chants, but as one of its most progressive and 
enter])rising citizens. 

He is a member of the Union League and other 
prominent clul)S of Philadelphia and for years 
has been an ardent yachtsman. Lie was one of 
the most active workers in the Liberty Loan 
campaigns, and during the war aided the govern- 
ment materially in conserving its great wool sup- 
plies. 

In a word. Mr. Webb is TIIF. wool man of 
Philadelphia. 

He was married in 1883 to Miss Katie S. 
Spangler. They have three children— all boys. 

VjICHAEL ERANCIS DOYLE enjoys, or at 
least should enjoy and appreciate, the dis- 
tinction of being one of the best known members 
of the junior bar of Philadelphia, and of having 
the largest practice. Progressive in even/thing, 
and a leader rather than a follower in every 
movement with which he associates himself, 



594 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



aggression seems to be his natural, or perhaps 
racial, characteristic, and in this respect he is as 
unique and picturesque as he is generally suc- 
cessful. His fighting qualities, whether within 
the sphere of his profession or in the mad whijl 
of politics, are fully recognized by the public, and 
their unlimited exercise, whenever they are called 
into play, has, no doubt, contributed in a large 
measure to his great success as a lawyer. Clients, 
as well as the public at large, like a lawyer who 
will fight, and Michael Francis Doyle is just the 
man to do this. 

Mr. Doyle was born in Philadelphia and edu- 
cated in her public schools. When nineteen years 
of age he entered the Law School of the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania, winning the prize scholar- 
ship. After an exceptionally brilliant course he 
graduated in 1897, bearing off the enviable degree 
of Doctor of Laws, and also securing a special 
scholarship. For two years after his graduation 
he pursued a post-graduate course in law and 
then became a law student in the office of the late 
Honorable William F. Harrity, Secretary of the 
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania under the gov- 
ernorship of Hon. Robert E. Pattison. 

At the age of tv>'enty-three Mr. Doyle's aggres- 
sive qualities and remarkable ability were already 
publicly recognized, and as a tribute to them he 
was nominated to Congress by the Democrats of 
the First Congressional District, and was. 
perhaps, the youngest man that ever ran for the 
lower house of the national Legislature. His 
defeat by General Bingham, the Congressional 
incumljcnt and a veteran in politics, was a fore- 
gone conclusion, yet notwithstanding his inevi- 
table defeat he was renominated in 1900. His 
fight in this campaign was a memorably aggres- 
sive one, but victory could not possibly have 
been secured. Mr. Doyle was again oft'ered the 
nomination in 1902, l)ut declined. 

While yet in his teens, Mr. Doyle was closely 
and actively identified with politics. At eighteen 
he was named as representative on the Citizens' 
Permanent Relief Committee, and a year later 
was secretary of the awardal of Gray's Ferry 
bridge movement. He has been a delegate to 
the city. State and national conventions of the 



Democratic party, and has been closely and ac- 
tively associated with every public or other move- 
ment for the improvement of South Philadelphia. 
He was a member of the committee that secured 
the dry dock for League Island Navy Yard ; drew 
up ordinances for the Broad Street Boulevard 
and was for a time president of the South Phila- 
phia Business Men's Association. One of his 
most notable achievements was his winning the 
fight for the Arsenal seamstresses against the 
contractors, in which he secured the intervention 
of President Roosevelt and a nation-wide celeb- 
rity. He also secured for the employes of the 
navy yards of the United States their Saturday 
half-holiday and was active in obtaining the pass- 
j.ge of the Employers' Liability Act in Congress. 
Mr. Doyle was selected as special American 
counsel for Sir Roger Casement, the L-ish agi- 
tator who was convifcted in England of partici- 
pation in a plot to effect a landing of German 
troops in Ireland in 1916. In this connection he 
worked almost incessantly to secure a pardon foi 
Casement, but his efforts were fruitless. He has 
been for many years active in Catholic aff'airs and 
was well known to and highly esteemed Ijy the 
late Archbishops Ryan and Prendergast, as well 
as l)y the Cardinal Archbishop of Baltimore and 
other leading members of the Catholic hierarchy. 

F. A. TAYLOR 

PHILADELPHIA is one of the greatest coal 
markets in the country. It is probably the 
most important distributing points for shipments 
to the New England and Southern States. It is 
a conspicuous figure also in exports to the lead- 
ing foreign countries doing an import coal trade. 
Conspicuous among the miners and shippers 
of bituminous and gas coal is F. A. Taylor, sec- 
retary and director of the Maryland Coal & Coke 
Company, with offices in the Stephen Girard 
Building. His company is among the most promi- 
nent in the soft-coal business in Pennsylvania. 
It makes a specialty of bunkering over all piers. 
In addition, it operates mines in Clearfield 
County, Pennsylvania ; Mineral County, West 
Virginia ; Fayette County, West Virginia, and 
Wyoming Countv. West A^irginia. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



595 



Mr. Taylor is one of the most conspicuous fij,^- 
ures in the industry, and operates branch offices 
in New York, Baltimore, Osceola Mills, Pa., and 
Newport News, Va. 

Twenty-five counties in Pennsylvania alone 



produce hituminous coal. Of the 450,000,000 tons 
l)roduced each year in the United States, 175,- 
000.000 tons are taken from Pennsylvania mines. 
Hie greater part of the remaining- tonnage is pro- 
duced in West \^irginia. 




SAMUEL K. FELTON, Jr. 

Vice PrRvSident 

QUAKER CITY MOROCCO COMPANY 



596 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




THOMAS DEVLIN 

President 

THOMAS DEVLIN MFG. CO. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



597 




HARRY W. CHAMPION 

President 

NEWTON MACHINE TOOL WORKS, Inc. 



598 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




L. H. SWIND 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



599 




CORNELIUS HAGGARTY, Jr. 

Attorney 



600 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




THEODORE C. SEARCH 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



601 




W. T. GAILEY Jr. 
Secretary and General Manager 

ABHRFOYLK MFG. COMPANY 
CF^ESTKR, PA. 



602 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




CHARLES P. VAUGHAN 

Vice President 
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



603 




ARTHUR JUDSON 
Philadelphia Orchestra 



604 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




EDMOND B. ROBERTS 

Vice President 

HENRY DISSTON & SONS, Inc. 

Keystone Saw, Tool, Steel and File Works 

PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



605 




FRANK B. BLACK 



606 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




E. J. LAVINO 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



607 




E. A. GILLINDER 



608 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




SAMUEL BELL Jr. 



THE STORY OT PHILADELPHIA 



609 




GEORGE F. HARVEY 

President 

THE NATIONAL DRUG COMPANY 



610 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




WILLIAM I^. FRAY, Deceased 

FORMERLY FiRST ViCE PRESIDENT 

JOHN B. STETSON CO. 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



611 




JOSEPH PICKARD 



612 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 




F. A. TRAVASCIO 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



613 




JOHN MAWSON 
MAWSON HAIRCLOTH COMPANY 



614 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



I'ERRY E. 1-5EAM 

pi<:RRY E. lUilAM, well known in motor 
traffic circles, was born in the State of Kan- 
sas. January 21, l.SSO. His father was Charles 
A. Beam and his mother, Ijefore her marria.«^e, 
was Sarah A. Shields, both of whom were mem- 
bers of families well known in the Sunflower 
State. Mr. Beam during his boyhood attended 
the public schools of his natal town and gradu- 
ated from high school at Onamosa, Iowa. It was 
his aml)ition to have a successful business 
career, so he entered business college at Quincy, 
111., from which he graduated with honors. 

Mr. Beam's first venture in commerce was in 
the produce business, in which he engaged in 
1901. when he was twenty-one years old. remain- 
ing in this business for four years. On leaving 
the produce business Mr. Beam became asso- 
ciated with Swift & Co. and for two years was 
manager of a branch of this organization at 
Waterloo. Icwa. lie later l)ecame president and 
manager of a corporation engaged in a similar 
business to that of Swift & Co.. located at Water- 
loo. The next scene of Mr. Beam's business 
operations was at Seattle, Wash., where he 
became j)resident and manager of the Cocheco 
Eumber Company, one of the largest companies 
in the lumber industry in the Northwest. In 1909 
he moved again, this time going to Portland. 
(Jre.. where he acquired his first experience in 
the motor transportation business as general 
manager of the Auto Delivery Company. He 
went to San Erancisco in 1911 and again 
engaged in transportation, this time as president 
and general manager of the Motor Truck Haul- 
ing Company, which operated in San Francisco. 
Los Angeles and Southern California, and which 
was poj^ularly known as the Auto Delivery Com- 
pany. Under Mr. Beam's management this com- 
pany was successful from the beginning and, 
through his tireless efi:'orts and well-directed 
enterprise, secured and fulfilled' many important 
contracts in construction work across the Mojave 
Desert and in the mountain regions of California. 
Mr. Beam next transferred the scene of his 
labors to the East. He came to Philadelphia, 
where he engaged in the motor truck business as 



jjresident and general manager of the Beam- 
Eletcher Corporation in 1916, remaining with this 
corporation until its dissolution. He subse- 
quently organized Beam's Own Freight Service, 
which is doing a prosperous business in Phila- 
delphia. 

Mr. Beam is a member of the Engineers' Club 
as well as the traffic clubs of Philadelphia. He 
is an ardent lover of golf and is a member of 
the North Hills Golf Club. He was married in 
Rock Island, 111., in 1901, to Eliza A. Kinner, and 
has one child, Marjorie J. He lives at Wood 
Norton Apartments, Germantown, Philadelphia, 
and his business address is Thirty-first and 
Master Streets. 

DELAWARE RIVER DISCHARGING 

COMPANY 

PHILADELPHIA is fast becoming one of 
the greatest commercial ports of the world. 
Following the great war there l)egan at once a 
big re\ival destined to place this port in the 
front rank of American cities controlling the 
foreign and domestic commerce of the Atlantic 
seaboard. 

There are in the port of Philadelphia greater 
facilities for the handling of freight and cargo 
shipments than those of any port in the coun- 
try except, possibly, New York. The advan- 
tage Philadelphia has over New York is' the 
absence here of lighterage necessities. Freight 
from all parts of the country destined for for- 
eign or coastwise shipment is loaded directly 
from the piers to the vessel destined to carr}- 
it overseas. There is no cartage from the 
docks down-stream to the big cargo-carrying 
vessels. 

Handling methcjds here have been adopted 
in various parts of the world l^ecause of their 
efficiency. Among the firms in this section 
that make a specialty of loading and unload- 
ing vessels is the Delaware River Discharging 
Company, with headquarters along the Cam- 
den side of the Delaware River. The operat- 
ing head of the firm is Philip R. Wilson, a 
brother of Rear Admiral W^ilson, who made an 
enviable reputation during the war while in 



THE STORY OF PHILADELPHIA 



615 



Mrectiiig tlie movement of transports 
en and munitions' to the war zone, 
(jf the compan_\- covers an ex- 
tc eas^'e along- the ri\er front. It is 

weh ..ipped with cargo-handling apj)aratus 
and its volume ui business is such, during the 
big revival of the after-the-war trade, that its 
facilities have been taxed to take care of the 
increasing cargo arrivals and departures. 

Location of the plant in Camden eliminates 
the possibilities of congestion, so apparent 
along the Philadelphia side of the Delaware 
River because of the great mass of freight piled 
up on the wharves awaiting shipment abroad 
and awaiting unloading from vessels. The 
Delaware River Discharging Company is well 
equipped to handle incoming and outbound 
cargoes. Its equipment comprises the very 
latest apparatus, among which are floating der- 
ricks and hoists that pick up the cargoes from 
the docks or vessels and transfer them elec- 
trically. 

Identitied with the firm are some of the best 
known freight handling experts in this section 
and under their personal direction the firm has 
been successfully engaged in an extensive 
business which has since become one of the 
big commercial assets of the "Greater Cam- 
den" area. 

CHAMBERS BROTHERS 
/^Xh] of the well known manufacturing [)lants 
that contributed largely to the success of 
the United States in its prosecution of the war 
against Germany was the Chambers Brothers' 
Company, manufacturers of paper folding and 
feeding, and clay working machinery, at Fifty- 
second and Media Streets, Philadelphia. 

This organization, which never has been out 
of the hands of the Chambers family, was 
founded in 1858 by Edwin and Cyrus Cham- 
bers, brothers. The first plant was located on 
the top floors of a building at Seventh and 
Cherry Streets, now occupied by the Sherman 
Printing House. The success of the business 
seemed to be forecast from its start for, w'ith 
the growth of trade, the partners soon were 
obliged to seek larger quarters. These were 



found at Thirty-second and Chestnut Streets. 
The expansion of their service still continued, 
and in 1870 it again became necessary to find 
another location for the puri)ose of enlarging 
the plant. Grcnmd was purchased and plans 
drawn for the erection of the buildings in 
which the conq)any is at present located. 

At the commencement of business at Sev- 
enth and Cherry Streets the concern for sev- 
eral years devoted its efi'orts' exclusively to 
the manufacture of i)apcr folding machinery. 
In 1864 the manufacture of brick machinery 
was added. Since that time the construction of 
those two classes of work has been the firm's 
specialty. Following the declaration of war, 
almost 80 per cent of the company's output 
was ordnance for the go\-ernment through sub- 
contracts. The plant employs 1()0 men. 

In 1888 the business was incorporated under 
the laws of Pennsylvania, and Cyrus Cham- 
bers, the founder, was elected president. All 
of the stock is held by members of the Chain- 
I)ers family. 

Cyrus Chambers died in 1911 and J. H. 
Chambers, a nephew, became head of the busi- 
ness. S. B. Chaml)ers is treasurer. 

In addition to their machine shop, the com- 
])any also operates its own iron foundrv and 
|)atternmaking (le])artment. 

pERCIVAL W. R0]]1-:RTS was born in 
Philadelphia, September 15, 1857. and is 
son of Percival and Eleanor (\\'illiamson") 
Roberts. He graduated from lla\erford Col- 
lege, with the Degree of Bachelor of Arts, in 
1876, and took a post graduate course in the 
University of Pennsylvania. He is a former 
president of A. & P. Roberts & Company; a 
member of the I-'.xecutive Committee of the 
United States Steel Cor]-)oration, and a director 
Pennsylvania Railroad Company, Philadelphia 
National I'lank. Land Title & Trust Company, 
and Union Improvement Company. He is also 
a member American Society of Civil Engineers, 
American Institute of Mining Engineers, and 
American Society of Mechanical Engineers. 
He was married Novemljer 11, 1885, to 
Gess}e A\'olcott Forthingham. Residence, 
Narberth, Pa. Olifice, 717 Arcade Building, 
Philadelphia. 



616 



BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX 



PAGE 

Abbott, Edwin M 536 

Aberle, Frederick C 577 

Aberle, Harry C 576 

Allman, Herbert D 552 

Altemus, Lemuel C 519 

Ambler, Charles A 496 

Andrews, Avery De Lano 415 

Ayer, Francis Wayland 390 

Baily, Frederick L 529 

Baker, Franklin, Jr 444 

Ballinger, Walter F 414 

Barba, W. P 548 

Barnes, F. Ellis 539 

Bateman, William H. S 483 

Bates, William Ely 566 

Beahm, Robert B 494 

Beam, Perry E 614 

Beates, Dr. Henry, Jr 495 

Beeber, Dimner 404 

Bell, John C 398 

Bell, Samuel, Jr 567 

Bennett, Claude F 408 

Black, Frank B 605 

BocHMANN, Charles F 537 

Bodine, Samuel T 358 

Bongaardt, John H 518 

Borden, John Bean 525 

Borgner, Cyrus 471 

Brewster, Francis Enoch 380 

Brown, A. F 433 

Brown, Walter P 557 

Bunn, William M 395 

Burnham, George, Jr Zll 

Burpee, Washington A 560 

Burtner, Clair P 514 

B utton, Con yers 409 

Cadwalader, John 410 

Carstairs, James 558 

Cattell, Charles E 559 

Chambers Brothers 615 

Chambers, Francis T 587 

Champion. Harry \V 597 

Chandler, Frederick T 438 

Chandler, Percy M 432 

Chesnut, Charles M 583 

Clark, Edward W 424 

Clark, Louis P 555 

Collins, Charles H 558 

Cooper, William E 486 

Cortright, Henry K 429 

Cox, Walter 427 

CuYLER, Thomas De Witt 381 

Davis. C. C 556 

Delaware River Discharging Co 614 

Devereux, Washington 500 

Devlin, Thomas 596 

Dice, Agnew T 508 

Doran, Joseph 1 389 

Doyle, Michavl Francis 593 

Drew, Dr. Ira Walton 488 

Drexel, George W. Childs 7)11 

Driscoll, James C 522 

Duling, William S 580 

Dyer, John Thomas 567 

Earle, George H 425 

Emsley, John W 569 

Englander, Samuel 452 



Etherington, Burton 534 

Eynon, Thomas M 405 

Fabiani, Dr. Vincent J 451 

Felton, Samuel K., Jr 595 

Ferguson, William B. S 447 

Fifer, Frank P 490 

FisLER, John 568 

Flaherty, James A 456 

foekderer, robert h 478 

Imiley, John 521 

l'"oLWELL, Nathan T 389 

Fox, Charles Edwin 401 

Francis, Isaac H 458 

Fray, William F 610 

French, Howard B 411 

Friedman N, Lionel 504 

Friedrichs, Auguste H 519 

Gailey. W. T., Jr 601 

Gang, Martin Rea 394 

Geary, John W 396 

Gebauer, Julius A 466 

GiLLINIlER, E. A 607 

Gribbel, John 455 

Grubnau, C.\rl a. B 485 

Gum mey, Hon. Charles 506 

Haggerty, Cornelius, Jr 599 

Hagman, William, J 497 

Hallowell, Maurice O'B 491 

Ham mond, Andrew F 538 

Harrison, Charles Custis ilTt 

Harvey, George F 609 

H.A.TFIELD, Henry Reed 422 

Hatfield, Dr. Nathan 423 

Henry, William B 382 

Herrick, Cheesman a 457 

HoHLFELD, Herman L 378 

HoppE, Frank A 587 

Houston, Samuel F 575 

HuLTON, James, Sr 403 

Humphreys, Clarence C 526 

Hunter, Rudolph M 554 

Irvin, Elihu C 396 

J.^cKsoN, I. Irvix 507 

Jackson, Joseph T 510 

Jenkins, E. W 545 

Johnson, Alba B 361 

Johnson, Geor(;e Knowles 366 

Johnson, C. Harry 591 

Jones, Dr. Charles J 540 

Joyce, J. St. George • . . 581 

JUDSON, Arthl'r 603 

Kedward, Thom.\s 588 

Kent, A. Atwater ■ . . . 417 

Kent, William C 501 

Kenworthy, Joseph W 393 

Kershaw, Charles H 564 

Kniskern, Lewis T 541 

KOCHERSBERGER, GeORGE H 565 

Kreider, William H 577 

Larzelere, Harold B 553 

Lavino, E. J 606 

Lees, William H 528 

Lehman, Robert B 469 

Lewis, John F 571 

Lewis, Samuel N 530 

LiLLiE, Lewis 514 

Ltppincott, George A 511 



/;/( x'.RAPiiiCAL /A'n/-:x 



r.l7 



PAGE 

Lii'PixcGTT, William A., Jr 544 

LoNC.STKhTIl, WlLLLVM Al 512 

MacDade. Albert D 502 

M AcnoNALn, Francis J 559 

]\1ackev, Harry A 472 

MacLaughlix, Joseph 461 

Madeira, i.ouis C '^'y 

Maneelv. Fraxcis J 557 

MaRCLRUM, WlLI.LVM 1' 484 

Marklanu, George 1... JR 416 

Martin, Stanley M 528 

^Marshall, E. E 480 

Mason, Sidney ■^-'^ 

Mather, Charles E 44.? 

Mati ACK, Samuel R "'21 

Maur''R, John H 579 

Mawson, John 61-5 

McAllistir, James R ^62 

McFadden, John Howakd 383 

McGowiN, Andrew C 426 

McManus, Patricious 435 

McNichol, James P 473 

M'Devitt, John J., Jr 515 

Mendenhall, Earl 516 

Michell, Frederic k J 420 

Michell, Henry F 418 

Miller, Theodore F 574 

Moon, Reuben O ^^^2 

Mconey, James A 5ol 

AIooRE, William G 448' 

M( rgan, Ranpali 3'^0 

JvloRRis, Effingham B ^1^7 

MuLHoi LAND, W. J ■;;79 

Mull, J. Harry -"'13 

Nelson, Edwin K 492 

Nicholson, William R 365 

Ncrmoyle, Daniel J 499 

Ober, Thomas K., Jr 57d 

Packard, Charles Stuart W 360 

Page, Louis K 54S 

Page, S. Davis 5C6 

Parvin, Joseph H 545 

Passmore, Lincoln K 391 

Patterson, Judge John M ^''J^ 

Pearson. Enoch W "^17 

Peirce, George 404 

Peirce, Thomas May 459 

Pennock, David S 410 

Perot, T. Morris, Jr 370 

Pickard, Joseph 61 1 

Porter, Charles A., Jr Sll 

Pofter, George D 431 

Pott: R, William 38o 

Prizi r LL\rry a 453 

PuBi icker Harry 464 

Radfcrd. Robert 44-i 

Reese, Harry D 532 

Reeves, Francis Brewster 376 

Remak, Gustavus, Jr 476 

Richards, J. F"rnest 450 

Ric-G, John Adam 363 

Roberts, Edmond B 545 

Roberts, Pfrcival W 615 

Robey, Joshua T 551 

Robinson, Charles T 419 

Robinson. Richard 11. M 421 

Robinson, \\ . W 455 



PACE 

Rom b: rgi r, 11. .A 442 

RoTiiiRMLL, p. F., Jr 374 

I."^ADTLhR, Sam ULL 1' 434 

Search, Theodore 600 

Schaffer, Hon. W. 1 589 

ScHELL, Charles S 493 

Schmidt, Edward A 470 

ScH M IDT, George 545 

SCHUMACKER, LORRAINE, J 527 

Schumaker, L. J 543 

fiH iRLEY, Harold R 539 

Short. David L 565 

SiLVi RM AN, Isaac H 402 

Simons, Laird H 446 

SiNE.x, John Henry 523 

Shallcrgss, Thomas, Jr 462 

Smith, Dr. Edgar F 367 

Snowden, John W 449 

Snyder, W. Frederick 2i7i 

Sproul, Hon. Wili.ia.m C 354 

Stager, St.\.nley R 430 

Starr, I a m ks 585 

Stfrn, Isadore 570 

Stetson, G. Henry 399 

Stetson, John B., Jr 397 

Stctesbury, Edward T 371 

Stull, George W 463 

Sullivan, James F 392 

Sulzeerger. Hon. MA^•IR 505 

SwiND, L. H 598 

Swope, Frederick E., Jr 519 

Taylor, Frank H 562 

Taylor. F. A 594 

Tayi cr, H. Evan 563 

Taylor, Harvey B 503 

Thayer, Ri'ssfll Gexerai 440 

Thomas, F. Foster 523 

Tingley, John L. S 498 

Tcrrence, John Macox 524 

Tower, Charlemagxe 3&8 

Town, Charles MacClellan 482 

Travascio. F. a 612 

Trigg, Ernest T 425 

TuRNEY, John J 550 

Turner, Frederick F 467 

Yale, Ruby Ross 532 

\'an Court, Howard M 477 

Van Scivir, George D 572 

Vaughax, Charles P 602 

Veit, Emu 509 

Wanamaker, Albert L 507 

Wfbb, Charles J {;92 

Wfber, Norton H 549 

Wells, George L 481 

W HEELER, Andrew 489 

Whetstone, Walter 533 

White, Edward. Jr 525 

Whitney, Willard M 552 

Why, Thomas 458 

WiGTON, Fra.xk H 582 

Wilson, Joseph R 406 

WiL.sox. Thomas H., 1r 525 

Wing, Asa Shove 369 

^^'oLF, Fdwi X 547 

Wood, Morris 386 

Wyxxe. Clarexce P -235 

^■|RKES, William C ^-^ 



H 94 80 



PRESS OF REX PRINTING HOUSE 
321-23 CHERRY ST.. PHILA. 



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